


Brave Police J-Yuusha

by BloodLily16, Psyche_Angel



Category: Brave Police J-Decker
Genre: Alternate Universe, Multi, Roleswap, Species Swap, kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-10-21 09:17:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 38,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10682322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodLily16/pseuds/BloodLily16, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Psyche_Angel/pseuds/Psyche_Angel
Summary: An AU where Deckerd Tomonaga finds a robot named Yuuta in a secret police warehouse. Tags may change.





	1. Prologue: That Fateful Meeting

 

 

It was an absolutely normal day. Deckerd was on patrol around the outskirts of the city. The radio was crackling with voices, but no more than usual. 

 _That being said,_ he thought as the radio reported another biomonster attack and seven of the closest patrol vehicles responded, _the usual wasn’t anything to sneeze at._

Something flitted out of a house. Deckerd slowed down. The figure rustled in the grass. 

He stopped his car and got out. “Hello?” No response. “Police! Identify yourself!” The rustling started again as something ran away from him. Deckerd ran after it, charging through the long grass. He was about to reach for a radio when the figure ran through a clearing. It was a cat. Deckerd slowed to a stop and sighed. 

He turned to walk back to his patrol car, when his foot hit the ground with a clang and the ground slipped out from under him. Deckerd yelped as he fell into a chute and banged against the walls before sliding as the chute curved. There was a pop and a clang as he rammed the grate to the chute… (not a chute, an air vent,) and crashed into a pile of boxes. 

They broke his fall, but sent up a thick cloud of dust. Deckerd coughed as he scrambled out of the pile. 

The room was dark. Light came from fluorescent lights on the catwalks above him, but the ceiling was easily three stories high. Deckerd pulled out his flashlight and turned it on, sweeping it around the room. 

There were a few consoles, more boxes, a metal docking station… wait. Deckerd squinted at the docking station as the light glinted off of the giant metal… 

“…Feet?” Deckerd swept his flashlight up, revealing metal legs, metal arms, a metal torso, and finally, the head of the robot. It was about three meters tall. Its optics were dimmed out, and the face looked distinctly child-like. Its eyes almost seemed to flicker, but Deckerd could’ve sworn that was just his imagination. 

Deckerd took a step forward. The optics lit up, and Deckerd gasped. 

The robot twitched slightly, lifting one arm, then the other. It looked around the room, stopped, then looked down at Deckerd. 

“H-hello,” said Deckerd, pointing his flashlight down at the ground. 

“Who are you?” The robot showed no emotion on its face or in its voice. The voice was childlike and modulated, but Deckerd wasn’t sure if it was a girl’s voice or a boy’s voice. Just a robot’s voice, he supposed. 

“My name is Officer Deckerd Tomonaga,” he said, not sure what to do. The robot looked police-like, but he didn’t know of any projects like this. _Especially_ not for a robot this advanced. 

“Dek-ka-a-do To-mo-na-ga.” The robot pronounced every syllable, like it was inspecting the way it felt. 

“What’s your name?”

The robot paused. Deckerd wondered if it had been a stupid question the second before the robot answered. 

“I am BP-110,” it said, “designation: Yuuta.”

Deckerd blinked. “Yuuta?”

“Affirmative.” 

“It’s nice to meet you, Yuuta.” 

Yuuta’s eyes flickered. “I do not know how to respond to that statement.” 

“um,” Deckerd scratched the back of his neck. “Usually people say ‘It’s nice to meet you too.’”

“It’s nice to meet you too?”

Deckerd nodded. 

“It’s nice to meet you too.” Yuuta looked around. “Where did you come from?”

Deckerd pointed at the vent. “I fell in by accident.” He looked up at the vent. “I should go back. I’m on the job. My coworkers will be worried.” 

“What is ‘worry?’”

Deckerd turned back to face Yuuta, who was looking at him expectantly. “Um…” He cleared his throat. “Worry is when you’re concerned with the well-being of something, or someone else. Especially if you think that something might have, or will, happen to them.” 

Yuuta cocked his head. “I see. Then do you need assistance so that you will not worry your coworkers?”

“Yes, actually.” Deckerd gestured to the vent. “Could you lift me up there and put the grate back?”

Yuuta nodded and picked up the grate from the pile of boxes. He held out his other hand. 

Deckerd climbed in and held on as Yuuta lifted him, slowly and gently, up to the vent. Deckerd climbed in, and Yuuta replaced the grate. 

“Thank you.” 

“No thanks is necessary,” said Yuuta.  
Deckerd looked up at the chute. “Yuuta. Would it be okay if I came down to visit you, later?”

“Would your coworkers worry?” asked Yuuta. 

“Not if I come after work,” said Deckerd. 

Yuuta paused and thought for a long second. “It would be okay.”

“See you later, then.” 

“See you later.” 

 

When Deckerd slid down the vent, he was fully expecting another tumble in the boxes. Instead, he landed in Yuuta’s hands. 

“Hello again, Officer Deckerd Tomonaga,” said Yuuta. 

“Nice catch.” Deckerd let his books fall to the side, feeling more than a little breathless. 

“What are those?” Yuuta looked down at the books. 

“Oh.” Deckerd picked them up as Yuuta set him down. “These are some storybooks. I thought you might like them.” 

“What are ‘storybooks’?” asked Yuuta.

“They’re…” Deckerd swallowed. “Well, they’re fun, fictional tales. These are written for children, but I still like to read these every so often.” 

“Are you going to read these with me?”

“No.” Deckerd shook his head. “I’m going to read these _to_ you.” 

“What does that mean?”

“Sit down.”  
Yuuta took a step back and sat down crosslegged on the floor. 

Deckerd sat down and pulled out a book. “Here’s one my sister likes. It’s the Tale of Princess Kaguya.” 

“Ka-gu-ya?” Yuuta tilted his head. 

Deckerd nodded and opened the book. “Once upon a time, in a small village, far away from the capital, there lived an old man who was known as the Bamboo Cutter. The old man and his wife lived together in a nice little house, and every day, he went up to the mountain to cut bamboo for a living. Every morning his wife would make him a lunch, and he’d take it and go up the mountain to the bamboo thicket. 

“One day, he saw a strange, glowing bamboo in the thicket. Inside the bamboo, made transparent from the light, he saw a tiny baby girl, only four inches long…” 

Deckerd read through the story, and was aware of Yuuta slowly leaning in, lost in the world of the story. 

“…And ever since that time,” said Deckerd, “when people have seen smoke from Mt. Fuji they say, ‘Princess Kaguya’s letter and potion are still burning.’” He closed the book.

Yuuta stared at him for a long time. “Is that it?”

Deckerd nodded. “The story’s over.” 

“Read me another one.” 

“Say please.”

“Please.” 

Deckerd nodded and picked up another one. “This is a Western story.”

“What is it called?” asked Yuuta.

Deckerd looked at the title. “Pinocchio.” 

 

Days turned into weeks. Deckerd had made something of a ritual of visiting Yuuta. He went from storybooks to board games, but Yuuta always asked for him to bring Pinocchio. 

“And then Pinocchio felt lonely—,”

“Deckerd?”

Deckerd looked up from the book, blinking in surprise. “Yes, Yuuta?”

“What does ‘lonely’ mean?”

Deckerd thought for a moment. “It’s when nobody’s with you, or around you, and you want them to be. And then you feel sad, because nobody’s there, and you don’t have any friends and family to be with.” 

Yuuta nodded, slowly. “What is family?” 

“Family’s like the Bamboo Cutter and his wife to Kaguya, and Gepetto to Pinocchio.”

Yuuta nodded and pulled his knees up to his chest. He didn’t say anything for a while. 

“Yuuta,” asked Deckerd, “is something wrong?”

“Deckerd,” said Yuuta, “are you my family?”

Deckerd blinked. “I can be.” He paused. “Do you want me to be your family?”

Yuuta looked down at the book. “Gepetto was Pinocchio’s papa, right?”

Deckerd nodded. 

Yuuta looked up at him, his optics slightly damp. “Can you be my papa?”

Deckerd looked at him, and slowly nodded. “Of course, Yuuta.” 

Yuuta smiled through his tears. “Thank you…” He swallowed. “Papa.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The awesome art's courtesy of Psyche_Angel.


	2. Introducing the Brave Detective!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This time on Brave Police J-Yuusha! The time has finally come for Yuuta to be inducted into the Brave Police! However, the threat of Dr. Gauss’ Death Magnet looms over our heroes. Will their bond be strong enough to face this magnetic menace and more?

 

Work had gone by at its usual pace in which Deckerd had memorized each part of the mundane cycle. Go on patrols. Eat lunch. Back to patrols. Then it’s just a matter of finishing paperwork and watching the clock tick down to signal the end of the shift. Normally, he wouldn’t find himself eager to leave work so quickly. Yet, this change had slowly crept up on him for the past six months and he found himself enjoying the anticipation of leaving his desk, or rather looking forward to what would occur afterwards.

At 15 minutes to 5 o’clock, he glanced at his phone. The message was sent by Azuki, the older of his two younger sisters, in their family group chat.

‘Are you arriving late again?’ He started to quickly write out his reply as not to worry her.

‘Yes. I just have a few things to finish up.’ With a click of a button, he sent out his text and tried to put his focus back into his work. Another text arrived soon afterwards, this time from Kurumi.

‘You’ve been out a lot lately.’ The text was quickly followed by another before Deckerd could even reply. ‘I bet you found a cute guy to go out with, didn’t you?’

While his two sisters argued in the texts about his personal life, he took a deep breath and returned his focus towards his computer screen. He figured it was only be a matter of time until they noticed. The only problem now was what excuse he’d have to create.

Upon finishing up and saving his daily reports, he took another look at the time. ‘5:00 PM’. Deckerd found himself grinning from ear to ear. With a jump in his step, he logged off his computer and grabbed his bag as he started darting towards the exit. Phone at hand, he replied to his sisters.

‘I’ll be home by dinner time,’ he paused, before adding more to his message, ‘and no, I’m not checking out anyone. See you in a few hours.’

 

——— 

 

The path to the warehouse was all too familiar to Deckerd as he navigated the streets on Nanamagari City. Making his way around a few neighbourhoods and into the city’s more developing areas, he reached a large stretch of land with what one would assume to be an abandoned building. With no cars or other people on site, a wave of relief washed over him with the certainty he wouldn’t be caught today.

He clung to the straps of his bag and waded through the tall grass whilst keeping an eye on his surroundings. After some time, his eyes had caught sight of a thin metal plate lying on the field. He lifted the plate carefully and set it aside, revealing the air vent he had fallen down those many months ago.

“Yuuta! I’m here!” He leaned down the chute, eagerly waiting for a response. Within the warehouse, the child-like robot’s optics started to glow a brilliant blue.

“Security systems deactivated.” The child robot looked around a bit and started to stretch before going towards the vent on the wall and readying his hands. “All clear, papa!”

In a single swift movement, Deckerd leaped into the vent and slid down. He even let out a yell of excitement, blasting through the vent and landing in Yuuta’s hands.

He looked up at Yuuta; the boy detective had changed a lot since their first meeting. His body was covered with metallic armour resembling a trench coat. Almost all of it was painted in white save for the red line across his chest. His forearms and feet broke up the colour scheme a bit, being a light shade of blue. His head covered the one exposed circuitry with a blue helmet, complete with siren lights installed near his cheeks and what looked like a crest right on the front.

However, the biggest change was Yuuta’s expression. Before, the young robot would have difficulty understanding simple feelings such as happiness or sadness. Looking at him now, Yuuta’s optics seemed to gleam with life, shining as he smiled at the sight of the police officer.

“Nice catch!” Deckerd saw Yuuta gleam in the praise as the young robot set him gently on the ground.

Yuuta crouched down closer to Deckerd’s eye level. “Did you bring a new book this time?”

Deckerd smiled as he set his bag aside, nodding in acknowledgement as he reached inside the bag and took out an old children’s detective manga.

“You’re close.” He sat himself down on the floor, looking up at the child robot as he opened the book. “I got the next chapter of the story. I figured you would want to know how the mystery was solved.”

Yuuta swiftly laid down on his front to get a better view of the pages with his jaw rested on his palms and his feet kicking into the air.

“Can we do the sound effects? And the funny voices?” he inquired, quickly following the question with shooting a pretend hand gun while shouting “bang! bang!”.

The older man chuckled as he leaned back against the boxes and looked towards Yuuta.

“Of course, we will. Now, last time on Detective Cory…”

As per usual, they allowed themselves to be lost in Detective Cory’s adventures. Deckerd would attempt his best impressions of the fictional child detective while Yuuta would supply sound effects and do his best bad guy voices. When the mystery presented another clue within the story, Yuuta would pout and hold his chin as to decipher its meaning. When it came time to start the action scenes, Deckerd would re-enact Cory’s dramatic entrance with as much energy and enthusiasm as he could muster.

It was in those moments where Yuuta no longer contain his excitement. He shot up like a rocket, stumbling a little bit before regaining his footing. Taking out his badge and his unloaded pistol, he stood tall and proud as he posed with all his might.

“Hold up!” He exclaimed, pointing his pistol outwards and holding his badge close. “This is Yuuta of the Brave Police! Hands in the air!”

Deckerd saved the page and slowly closed the book. He watched intently as Yuuta posed more, smiling as the boy robot faced imaginary enemies and saved the day. His dad had often told him stories of how he would do something similar when he was nine, and he couldn’t help but see that same enthusiasm in Yuuta. A sense of contentment filled him. He wondered if his dad felt the exact same way as he did in that very moment.

Once Yuuta had defeated his pretend foes, he started to applaud.

“That was so cool!” he cheered, “You’ll be sure to make an impression on those bad guys!”

Yuuta’s smile melted away. He started to hold himself and look downwards.

“Yuuta? Are you okay?”

Before he could answer, his head shot up and faced the elevator shaft with a nervous look on his face. Barely a second later he looked down at Deckerd.

“Papa! Someone’s coming!”

Deckerd swiftly grabbed both his book and bag. He dashed behind the boxes and panels, shoving himself into the tight spaces. Yuuta wiped the dust off himself and rushed to his original position on his platform. Soon enough, the old elevator lowered and opened its doors.

Looking over the corner of the panel, Deckerd was able to make out two older men stepping into the warehouse. One of them he recognized as Commissioner Juuzo Saejima, made distinguishable by his almost gravity defying hair and sharp grey suit. The other was unfamiliar, being shorter and stouter with an worn brown jacket.

“I know you’re eager to see it, guv,” the other man remarked as he walked alongside the commissioner, “but you could at least wait until after tomorrow.”

“You’re probably the only one who calls me that, Toudou,” Saejima chimed as he looked up at Yuuta, “but I can’t wait much longer now!”

The man – Toudou – joined in with his own chuckle as his gaze also turned to the boy detective.

“There he is. The Brave Detective, Yuuta.” Toudou beamed in pride as he crossed his arms. “Strong and agile, yet approachable to even kids. Even has the latest tech to run him.”

“Once he’s formally inducted,” Saejima remarked, “police institutions all over the world will be revolutionized! Just thinking about it makes me excited!”

Deckerd pondered on those words a bit as he remained hidden. He had forgotten Yuuta was more than just a giant child; he was a police robot made to stop crimes normal humans couldn’t resolve, even with the aid of technology. The young robot never faced real criminal elements before and the thought would be rather scary to a child.

“How about we finish up the preparations for after tomorrow, Guv? His big day will come soon.”

Deckerd snapped back to reality. Looking over the corner again, he saw the two heading towards the elevator. Their conversations remained jovial as they entered the elevator and later left the building. After a few moments of waiting, Deckerd stepped out of his hiding spot and sighed in relief. Yuuta followed in suit.

“That was close,” Yuuta remarked.

Deckerd nodded in agreement as he looked at his phone. To his surprise, it was already close to 8 o’clock.

“Looks like I have to go now.” Deckerd remarked as he looked up as Yuuta.

Yuuta offered his hand. Deckerd climbed on and let Yuuta carry him to the air vent he fell through. He looked back at Yuuta and tilted his hat slightly.

“I have a day off tomorrow, so I’ll be able to spend all day with you.”

“Papa,” Yuuta muttered, “Can you come extra early tomorrow?”

That feeling of unease appeared on Yuuta once more, making Deckerd worry in turn. It wasn’t like him to plea so quietly.

“Alright. I’ll try my best.”

“Also…” Yuuta glanced to the side, pausing for a moment before looking to Deckerd once more with pleading optics. “Can you bring Pinocchio? Please?”

He nodded with a reassuring smile. “Of course.”

Deckerd prepared to climb into the vent, giving Yuuta one last reassuring smile. Yuuta responded with his own, albeit more anxiously as he watched his father leave.

 

——— 

 

Dinner would normally be a time in which Deckerd would find himself forgetting about the day's troubles and simply enjoying the moment with a freshly cooked meal and the company of his family. However, he found himself lost in thought and overall too distracted to enjoy the food.

 _Why was he so insistent I return this time?_ He thought to himself as he played with his soba. _Was he scared? And if so, what was it?_

“Deckerd?”

He looked up to see Kurumi staring at him perplexingly. Azuki shared a similar look, though expressing concern more so than confusion.

“You haven’t touched your food.” She stated, putting her chopsticks beside her empty bowl. “Did something happen at work today?”

“Normally, you’d be having seconds by now,” Kurumi added.

Deckerd let out a sigh and leaned on his hand. He paused for minute of so to properly phrase an answer, then stood up straight.

“Work was just a bit busier than usual.” He went back to eating his food, not paying mind to Kurumi turning on the television.

“I’m telling you, sis,” she leaned back on her chair as to face the TV, “he has his mind on someone.”

He rolled his eyes at the remark, glancing at the television a bit. It soon took his attention when he saw what exactly was going on the news. Footage showed a giant robot attacking Detroit. The robot looked like a cross between a sumo and bootleg toy, using some kind of magnet to destroy everything in sight. Innocents ran away in the streets, trying to seek safety from the madness. The report itself was broadcasted from the safety of a helicopter.

“Dr. Gauss and his robotic menace, Death Magnet, are currently still at large for numerous crimes, including theft and black market weapons dealing!” The news reporter exclaimed. “International Police Units are still currently powerless against the magnetic menace, but swear to capture the criminal in haste.”

Deckerd turned back to his soba and tried to block out the television. If the current international police couldn’t handle this man, then would Yuuta…?

No. He didn’t want to think about that possibility. Yuuta was designed to be state of the art. He knew he’d be able to face him when the time came. Still, he couldn’t get that nagging feeling out of his head…

 

——— 

 

The next morning was very much the same as the previous afternoon, with Deckerd sliding down the chute and Yuuta catching him once more. Once again, they greeted each other, only Deckerd noticed a hint of tiredness in the young robot.

“Are you okay?” he inquired.

Yuuta shook his head in an attempt to get the fatigue out of his system as he lowered Deckerd atop one of the platforms and sat himself down on the floor. Putting his bag down, Deckerd reached in to grab the storybook. However, he was stopped by Yuuta putting his hand on his shoulder.

Something was definitely wrong.

“Yuuta?” Deckerd sat on the edge of the ledge, setting his bag aside. “Do you need to talk?”

He only nodded in response, looking down on his feet.

“Is something upsetting you?”

Again, he nodded, this time holding his knees closer to his chest. Deckerd reached out and placed his hand on Yuuta’s shoulder.

“Is this about tomorrow?”

He nodded a third time, quivering his lip and looking at Deckerd.

“I understand.” He sighed, facing towards Yuuta, “You don’t have to worry too much, though. I know the criminals can be scary, but you’re very strong. You just have to believe in your skills—”

“That’s not why I’m scared.”

He was taken aback at the sight of Yuuta trembling. The boy whimpered, rubbing coolant tears away.

“M-Mr. Toudou and the engineers w-were talking.” He stammered, trying desperately to stop his tears streaming down his face. “Th-They say they’re gonna put whole lot of new data into me tonight. Stuff about cases and a-accidents. S-So, they gotta reset my AI, a-and that means… that means…”

He couldn’t hold back the floodgates any longer. Almost in an instant, Yuuta started to wail as loud as he possibly could. This wasn’t the kind of sadness one would expect from a child. It was nothing like the short tantrums Yuuta would pull when refused a game, nor like his pouting when he tried to avoid being chided for bad manners. What stood in front of Deckerd could only be described as pure, raw grief. It was as if… As if…

They were going to lose each other.

Logic tried to reason with him. _Of course, this was going to happen. This was why he was built. It’s his purpose. There was very little chance they could continue this forever, even after Yuuta was inducted. It was bound to end at some point._

Even so, Deckerd didn’t believe it. He didn’t **want** to believe it. His blood ran cold as his body shook uncontrollably. His mind was full of static, unable to keep up with the flurry of thoughts and emotions. He found himself unable to breath with the weight of this information constricting him. There was sharp, aching pain in his chest, and no matter how hard he clutched his chest it refused to leave.

He trudged towards Yuuta. Step by agonizing step, his movements were barely responsive until he collapsed into his shoulder. His knees barely supported him, soon after giving out with Deckerd desperately clinging to Yuuta with what little strength he had left.

Right on cue, Yuuta gently picked him up and held him like stuffed toy. Amidst the howling, he struggled to speak again.

“I-I don’t…” he sobbed through the mess of coolant tears, “I don’t wanna forget! I-I wanna stay with you! It’s not fair!”

Deckerd tried his best attempts in embracing his child. He shut his eyes tight as he could, partially to block out his own pain and try to keep his composure. He rubbed Yuuta’s neck back and forth as to try and give some solace in this grim situation. It wasn’t long until his own tears started to fall. It took all his might just to keep his sobbing quiet.

Yuuta took his free hand and attempted to wipe away the tears once more, barely able to let out a whimper. “I-I’m scared.”

“I know.” Deckerd tightened his embrace. “I know.”

They didn’t know how long they held each other. Minutes. Hours. Eventually, they let each other go. Yuuta finally calmed down enough to lower his cries to whimpers and Deckerd found himself with a little breath in him. However, the pain was still there, fresh like an open wound. He had to think of something. If not to completely forget their situation, then at least to make the most of the day.

Certain enough, he spotted his bag. Deckerd carefully climbed his way from Yuuta’s shoulders back to the platform. He sat himself on the edge once more. With unsteady hands, he grasped onto the book and took it out, carefully opening the old storybook. Yuuta slowly lifted his head towards Deckerd.

Deckerd forced a shaky smile. “I promised I would read Pinocchio to you, remember?”

With a small pause, he replied with his own sheepish smile and a nod.

He took a deep breath. “Once upon a time, in a small village, there lived an old toymaker named Geppetto. More than anything, he wanted a child…”

His breath still shook, but he persevered in completing the story with more effort than he’s ever put in his life. With every word, he added vigour and enthusiasm, despite the pain ever present. Yuuta still listen as closely as he possibly could, clinging onto every word. Eventually, they started to approach the end of the story.

“… As Pinocchio’s body laid upon the bed, a gentle voice spoke to him. ‘Prove yourself brave, truthful, and unselfish, and someday you will be a real boy.’ Suddenly, a miracle happened. Pinocchio woke up and found himself turned into a real boy!

“He turned to his father and cheered. ‘Look, papa! I’m alive and I’m real!’ Geppetto saw this and hugged Pinocchio as tight as he could. They danced and sang throughout the night in celebration and they lived happily every after.”

He closed the book with a sign. Turning towards Yuuta, he became perplexed at the sight of Yuuta closing his fists tightly and puffing out his cheeks. He let out a tired chuckle.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

Yuuta only tightened his fists more before taking a look at his hands. He saddened to find them still the same as before and faced his papa.

“I tried to wish as hard as I could like Pinocchio.” He explained further, “If I was a real boy too, I won’t have to be reformatted. I could just go home with you and we could be a real family.”

“Yuuta…” Deckerd reached out and petted Yuuta’s helm. “We can’t what’s going to happen, but they can’t change everything in you.”

He pressed his forehead onto Yuuta’s. “You’re my son. You’re a brave, strong, and kind little boy, and you’re just as alive as I am. Even if you don’t remember me, I’ll always keep you in my heart. I know you’ll do great things out there because you’re you.”

“What if I can’t do it?” he mumbled, “What if I’m too scared?”

Deckerd took a breath before offering a smile.

“That’s the secret, Yuuta. Being brave isn’t about not being afraid. It’s doing what’s right even when you are.” Deckerd wiped away the rest of Yuuta’s tears. “Be brave. Be strong. Be kind. No matter what happens, I will support you every step of the way.”

Yuuta nodded, hugging his father one last time until he heard the elevators coming down. Quickly as he could, he lifted Deckerd to the vent until the man was well hidden. He returned to his platform, keeping himself as still as possible as he kept his optics on Deckerd.

When the elevator landed, a team of engineers lead by Toudou rushed to their positions. Like clockwork, they installed a myriad of wires into Yuuta’s frame and pressed several buttons on the panels. Deckerd watched as Toudou gave the signal to start the reformatting. He looked back at Yuuta.

As his optics began to glow, he gave a faint smile to his father, conveying everything he wanted to say.

_Thank you, papa. I’ll be brave… and strong… for… you…_

When it finally ended, Deckerd turned away and began his quiet ascent up the chute, struggling to compose himself every step of the way. Toudou looked up towards Yuuta.

“Strange. Could have sworn I saw him smile.”

 

——— 

 

The next morning didn’t fair kindly on Deckerd. He hardly touched his food and constantly rubbed his eyes to remove the aching feeling around them. Everything around him felt numb, barely registering in his mind. He scarcely reacted enough to at least try returning to a life before Yuuta. The day was only made worse with a sudden assignment: crowd control during the transfer of BP-110.

As if he needed a reminder.

The time was 8:00 AM and Deckerd had subjected himself to mundane procedures of ushering the crowds behind the parameters. At times, he would find himself glancing at the transport vehicles. The surrounding police mechs maintained their positions, occasionally shifting to keep up with the moving patrol cars.

Sure enough, a large silver shipping container started to approach Deckerd’s sector. It easily towered the rest of the patrol cars, maintaining a short distance behind them. Deckerd could just see it now. Yuuta’s cold, unmoving body lying within the large compartment. The space would be too small and cramped for him to move around. It was probably dark in there as well, so much so that he would be calling Deckerd for comfort if he could.

The dull ache in his heart returned. Deckerd took a deep breath, fidgeting his fingers and glancing away from the vehicles once more. He had to keep his mind off things for now. Just don’t think about it. Just—

Suddenly, a crash could be heard in the streets. People started to scream and panic, running from the source of the crash. He turned only to find something horrid. That robot from the news, Death Magnet, loomed over everything with maniacal laughter coming from it. With its enormity, it was anyone’s guess as to how he evaded the police scanners.

Police mechs attempted to subdue the mechanical monster whilst Deckerd tried to maintain control of the panicked mob. The Death Magnet had little trouble dealing with the police, tossing them around like ragdolls across the streets and causing as much carnage as possible. Deckerd was half tempted to join the crowd in their panic, but he still had his duty to uphold.

 _Focus, Deckerd!_ He told himself, ushering the crown as quickly as he could. _Get the civilians out of here. Issue a parameter around the area. Don’t worry about the sumo magnet robot thi—_

“Hand over the Brave Police,” Dr. Gauss jeered, “and maybe I’ll spare you all!”

Everything stood still for Deckerd. He watched as Death Magnet moved closer towards Yuuta’s trailer. Its arm started reaching out for the container. The screaming crowds became nothing more than white noise. The only thing he could understand in that single moment was fear. Not for himself, but for Yuuta.

Yuuta was in there.

His **son** was in there.

Something in him snapped. Before anyone could react, Deckerd bolted into the street and made his stand in front of the trailer. Death Magnet barely paused as Deckerd aimed his pistol towards it.

“Stop right there!” He started to shout at the top of his lungs. “I won’t let you take another step further!”

Dr. Gauss sneered. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Deckerd found himself shaking on the spot, but he refused to waver.

“If you think I’ll let you hurt Yuuta, you have another thing coming!” He turned back to the trailer, hoping the driver would be able to hear him. “Get Yuuta out of here! I’ll distract him!”

The doctor tightened his grip on his controls.

“Out of my way, officer scum!” Death Magnet readied its arm to swing at Deckerd. The policeman shut his eyes, bracing for impact.

“Papa!”

Yet, it never arrived. Upon opening his eyes, he gasped.

Yuuta stood just above him, blocking Death Magnet’s blow. With little effort, he pushed it back, causing the magnetic menace to stumble backwards. He stood up straighter, feet firm on the ground and taking out his badge.

“Hold up! This is Yuuta of the Brave Police! Hands in the air!”

Deckerd felt a grin crawl onto his face. Looking up at his son, he felt a glow inside where the aching in his chest once was. He was alive. Yuuta was alive!

Yuuta turned his head towards Deckerd. “Are you okay?” He inquired.

Deckerd nodded in response. “I am now.”

A sinister chuckle resounded from Death Magnet. “That’s quite the impressive robot you have there,” Dr. Gauss grinned, “but you belong to me now!”

Death Magnet swung its enormous arm towards the two. Without skipping a beat, Yuuta grabbed his father and leaped away from the blow, watching it smash into the street. Keeping his distance from his foe, he put Deckerd on his shoulder.

“Are you scared?” Deckerd asked in his concern.

Yuuta nodded. “But I can be brave, just like you said.”

That glowing sense of pride grew in Deckerd. He smiled and nodded in affirmation, keeping his grip on Yuuta’s helm. Dr. Gauss unleashed a magnetic wave from Death Magnet, forcing barriers and spare mech parts to charge toward the two like shrapnel. Once again, Yuuta leaped away from the danger, ducking and swerving around certain doom. He pulled out his revolver and immediately loaded it. With Deckerd covering his ears, Yuuta opened fire at Death Magnet’s feet, creating a flurry of rock and dust in the air.

Death Magnet shielded itself from the blow. The shots caused such a ruckus in the already demolished streets. Everything in the surrounding areas was impossible to make out. When the dust finally cleared, Yuuta and Deckerd were nowhere in sight.

“Where are you, metallic brat?” the mad doctor fidgeted at the controls. Death Magnet started to scan the area, twitching its robotic fingers in anticipation.

Out of his sight, Yuuta dropped off Deckerd behind a building and began to reload.

“Yuuta, he’s using magnets to move everything around,” Deckerd explained, “I think if you take out the main coil, you should be able to arrest him.”

 “Aim for the big red thing on his chest. Got it.” Yuuta reloaded his gun, glancing around the corner before looking back at Deckerd. “Are you scared too?”

Deckerd nodded. “I know you can beat him, though.”

Yuuta smiled in response.

“I’ll be right back, papa!” With that, Yuuta burst right into action.

Death Magnet spotted him almost immediately, quickly using its magnetic beams to toss whatever metal debris towards him. Yuuta shot through some of the oncoming wreckage before quickly yelling “Change!” and switching to his vehicular mode.

Dr. Gauss was flabbergasted. “It can transform?!”

Despite the sheer volume of metal heading towards him, Yuuta swiftly maneuvered around every attack. Closing the distance between he and his foe, Yuuta changed back into his robotic self. Kicking up from the floating debris, he jumped right within Dr. Gauss’ sights.

“I have you now!” the doctor laughed, using the magnet to force Yuuta closer. His cheer soon faded when he noticed the young Brave grinning.

Before he got too close to Death Magnet, Yuuta took the opportunity and fired a direct hit onto the main coil. With the weapon rendered into nothing but wires and scrap, the metallic debris began to drop onto the street along with Yuuta. Death Magnet tried once more to swing at Yuuta, but he quickly dodged and fired a round into its joints, severing the robotic limb. Before it had the chance to counterattack, Yuuta did a sweep kick and knocked Death Magnet forward.

The doctor’s head spun, barely noticing the looming shadow of the brave until he looked upward. He gulped.

“Dr. Gauss,” Yuuta stood with his pistol pointed at him, “you’re under arrest for acts of terrorism and weapons laundering!”

Right on cue, police cars started to drive into the scene. Despite struggling, Dr. Gauss was quickly apprehended and dragged away into a jailor van.

“This isn’t over, Brave Police!” He struggled to face Yuuta with the police restraining him. “You haven’t seen the last of me! I’ll be back! I’ll make you pay for this!”

This continued on for a while and Yuuta couldn’t help but raise his brow. Somehow, he certainly doubted it.

Deckerd ran from his hiding place and cheered. “Yuuta, you did it! That was amazing!”

“You really think so?” Yuuta beamed, kneeling to Deckerd’s height. “It felt awesome!”

“it most certainly was, you two.”

Yuuta and Deckerd turned to find Commissioner Saejima and Toudou standing before them. Immediately, both of them saluted with worry written all over them. Saejima approached Deckerd, looking him in the eye with a stern look.

“I couldn’t help but notice Yuuta was calling you ‘papa’ the whole time.” He raised a brow. “Care to tell how that happened, officer?”

Yuuta sniffled, quivering his lip with teary optics. “Are you going to reformat me again?” he asked.

Deckerd planted himself between both parties, holding his arms up as a barrier.

“With all due respect, commissioner,” He started to insist, “Yuuta’s very much alive and I believe reformatting him is unnecessary!”

Saejima widened his eyes before putting up a hand.

“At ease. I wasn’t going to suggest that. We’re only asking for an explanation now,” Saejima explained.

Relief washed over the two as they looked to each other and nodded. It took quite some time, but the two were able to recount the six months they had spent with each other. Yuuta even added his own retellings of specific events, albeit with his own brand of childlike enthusiasm.

“Then I heard papa calling to protect me and I was able to wake up! Soon, I was fighting the bad guy and shooting his big dumb robot and now we’re here!” Yuuta explained with a confident look on his face.

Toudou rubbed the back of his neck as he chuckled.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” he remarked, shoving his hands in his pockets, “This really is a miracle, Guv.”

Saejima let out his own chuckle.

“It’s quite the tale,” he remarked, “but now’s the matter of what happens next.”

He watched the two talk to each other, laughing as they recalled the moments they shared. Saejima took the time to ponder. Reformatting Yuuta was out of the question at this point and separating the two wouldn’t be any better. After much self-deliberation and a snap of his fingers, he smirked.

“I think I have a solution.”

 

——— 

 

His sisters looked at him in complete disbelief.

“You’re in charge of a whole division now?” Azuki inquired.

 “I still have to fill in a bit of paperwork, but yea,” Deckerd shifted in his seat a bit, “I’m now head officer of the Brave Police. Yuuta will be helping me too.”

“Whoa, back up a bit, big bro,” Kurumi raised her hands before shooting him a confused look, “Who’s Yuuta?”

Deckerd blinked before letting out a nervous laugh.

“He’s my son.”

The two sisters looked at each other before staring back at Deckerd with the look of having even more questions. He sighed in response.

“Just follow me.”

Heading to the front of the house, the three found Yuuta standing and smiling as he waved. Azuki blinked in her confusion while Kurumi had her doubts replaced with excitement.

“You have a robot son!” She exclaimed, “Oh my god, you have a robot son!”

“Azuki. Kurumi.” He chuckled as he motioned towards Yuuta. “Meet your nephew.”

Yuuta began to salute, “Yuuta Tomonaga of the Brave Police! Nice to meet you!”

Azuki looked towards Deckerd, hoping to receive an answer. He smiled back, his look screaming it all to be one very long and complicated story. She sighed in response as she smiled to Yuuta.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Yuuta.”

“You have to call me ‘Cool Aunty’, okay?” Kurumi grinned, barely able to contain her excitement as she pointed to Azuki. “and you can call her Aunty Azuki!”

Yuuta nodded with a thumbs-up. He carefully picked Deckerd up and placed him on his shoulder, nuzzling him a little bit.

“I like our family, papa,” he affirmed with a smile.

Deckerd nodded. After everything they’d gone through in the past few days, everything finally seemed right in the world.

“I couldn’t agree more.”

 

* * *

 

_“I still can’t believe you’re letting him off the hook”_

_A tall man with a receding hairline and glasses paced back and forth in front of the commissioner’s desk. Hands behind his back, he shook his head in disapproval._

_“Not only did he trespass on government property multiple times, but he indirectly tampered with experimental technology.” He turned towards Saejima, standing directly in front of him. “Yet, you still put this man in charge of the division? With a giant robot nine year old?”_

_“It’s the best course of action.” Saejima explained, standing up from his chair. “Yuuta’s proven to be more effective with Deckerd. I think in time and with their strong bond, they can successfully lead the Brave Police through anything.”_

_The other man sighed, shaking his head._

_“You better be right, Juuzo.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awesome art courtesy this time of BloodLily16!


	3. Sorcerer VS Brave! Form J-Yuusha!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just when Deckerd's starting to adjust to his new life as head of the Brave Police, a threat emerges that will require the might of J-Yuusha! 
> 
> …if only they can form him.

 

Deckerd peeked out through the curtains at the mob outside. Being mobbed by photographers and newspeople had been annoying the first time, while leaving the station. But after a near-constant stream of what could only be called harassment parked firmly on his doorstep, Deckerd was more than fed up. 

A decent-sized part of the crowd was gathered around Yuuta’s altmode. Yuuta was coping with the experience better than your average nine year old would, or so Deckerd thought. Whether or not it was the police programming or not was the question, but Yuuta was handling the stress of the situation with ease, while Deckerd was struggling with his life suddenly under a microscope. Azuki and Kurumi had started climbing into Ms. Itohara’s yard so they could arrive at school on time, thanks to the barrage of reporters. Someone had to distract the reporters so they didn’t catch on, so every morning, he waded through a sea of people who thought that his personal life was fair game. How did celebrities handle it?

“At least it’s Saturday break,” remarked Azuki, peeking over Deckerd’s shoulder. 

“This is ridiculous,” said Deckerd. 

“I’ve heard that it’s much worse in America.” 

Deckerd groaned and shook his head. “It looks like your plans for today are ruined, huh?”

“At least it’s nothing that can’t be postponed.” 

“What about grocery shopping?”

Azuki sighed. “You caught me there. We might have to have leftovers tonight. It’s too bad, Kurumi was hoping we could have some kitsune soba tonight.” 

“Where is Kurumi anyway?” 

The sound of footsteps came from the stairs. Azuki and Deckerd turned to see Kurumi coming down the stairs in one of her best dresses. Her hair had been done with extra effort, and she was wearing a touch of makeup.

“Where’re you going dressed like that?” asked Deckerd. 

“I’m not going far!” Kurumi half-sang. “Come on, let’s go!” She grabbed Deckerd by the arm, and before he knew what was happening they were on the porch, being bombarded with questions.

“Officer Tomonaga, can we have a word?” A lady reporter shoved a microphone in Deckerd’s face. 

“Um…” 

“Hello~!” Kurumi pushed her way in front of Deckerd. “I’m Kurumi Tomonaga, Deckerd’s youngest sister! How do you do?”

“Can you tell us what it’s like,” asked a reporter, pointing a microphone at her, “now that your brother’s in charge of the Brave Police Program?”

“It hasn’t changed that much around here,” said Kurumi. “Except for Yuuta being around. Nii-San’s too grounded to let a responsibility like this go to his head!” She giggled. 

Deckerd rolled his eyes. 

“Am I to understand that he still lives at home, despite having a stable job?” asked a reporter. 

“Our parents travel a lot,” said Kurumi. “He stays home to keep an eye on us, because he gets worried about us easily.” 

“What a responsible young man! Does it make his love life hard, taking care of you?”

“Deckerd isn’t dating anyone.” 

“Speaking of which,” interrupted another reporter. “Officer Tomonaga, what’s your type when it comes to women?”

“No comment,” said Deckerd. 

“Do you prefer men?”

“ _Definitely no comment!”_

Kurumi giggled. 

Yuuta revved his engines and moved forward a little bit, causing the reporters to part. “Papa! The Commissioner called! He says he wants us to come to HQ for a briefing!” 

 _Oh thank God,_ thought Deckerd. “Excuse me, duty calls!” He hurried through the crowd and all but threw himself into Yuuta’s altmode. 

Yuuta zoomed away, and the reporters ran after them, leaving a disgruntled Kurumi behind them. 

 

———

 

Commissioner Juuzo Saejima, head of the police in Nanamagari City and the man who was, at some level, responsible for everything the Brave Police could and couldn’t do, rearranged the pens in his pen holder. 

Deckerd shifted in his seat, and Yuuta was fidgeting. 

Vice Commissioner Kazuto Azuma, Saejima’s right-hand man and best friend (even though it seemed like they should be trying to kill each other, considering their personalities) shot Yuuta a glare. Yuuta stopped fidgeting, but started up again as soon as Azuma looked away. 

“Officer Tomonaga,” said Saejima, looking down at his papers. “You’re sure that there’s nothing you forgot to put in your report? Concerning the parade?”

“Yes, sir,” said Deckerd. 

“Mr. Toudou?” Saejima turned to look at Shunsuke Toudou, who…

Well, Deckerd knew next to nothing about him, other than the fact that he’d built Yuuta. 

Toudou sighed. “The long and short of it is that…” He shrugged. “We’re not sure exactly what happened. Our best guess is that Yuuta was intelligent enough that interacting with Deckerd allowed him to form new lines of programming, but that’s software, not hardware. Then, when he heard Deckerd talking to him, somehow that triggered the original programming and undid the effects of the reformat.” 

“What about the case files?” asked Azuma, crossing his arms. 

Toudou sighed. “Most of the new data is integrated, but it seems like some of the files are corrupted. No idea how much. We made a copy of the new code, and we’re running tests, but we’re not sure what it did, or how it affected Yuuta’s hardware and response time.” 

“Anything else?” asked Saejima. 

“No, guv,” said Toudou. “I figure it would be fine and dandy if you gave them the briefing you’ve been itching to do.” 

Saejima’s eyes sparkled. “Thank you, Mr. Toudou!” 

Deckerd and Yuuta exchanged a look. 

 

———

 

“I hope you’ve both rested up after Dr. Gauss’s attack?” Saejima strutted up to a large hangar-like building. 

“Yes, sir,” said Deckerd. 

“I’ve been playing boardgames with Aunty Azuki and Cool Aunty.” Yuuta skipped a little bit as he talked. “We played Risk.”  

“Excellent!” Saejima produced a remote and fiddled with the controls. “Let’s see… darn device. Never—,” 

He pressed a button and the hangar door started to open.

“Here we are!” He threw his arms out wide as the hangar door crept open and Deckerd’s jaw dropped. 

Inside was a massive trailer in police colors. It was nearly three times the size of Yuuta, and the pattern of geometric lines on its sides looked similar to the markings of his car form. 

“Introducing J-Roader!” Saejima let out an euphoric, undignified whoop. “A state-of-the-art combining vehicle, ready to form J-Yuusha!” 

“What’s J-Yuusha, sir?” Deckerd looked from J-Roader to Saejima. 

“Well, Deckerd,” explained Saejima, “Yuuta was designed to be as approachable as possible for the general public. That’s why he looks like a cute little child. But that also means he’s not very intimidating, and we sacrificed some of his power for mobility. J-Roader contains some of the needed hardware and energy, which Yuuta can activate by combining with it to form J-Yuusha!” He held out a bulky-looking police badge that looked like a scale model of the one Yuuta had. “You’ll need this to perform the commands.” 

Deckerd took it and turned it over in his hand. It was colored like J-Roader, and had a pair of police lights on the top of it. He flipped it open, and J-Roader revved to life behind him.

“Now it’s time for the unification test!” said Saejima. “Give it a try, Deckerd.”

“Okay.” Deckerd looked at J-Roader and cleared his throat. “Form J-Yuusha!” 

Nothing happened. 

“That’s not how you do it,” said Saejima. 

“Huh?” asked Deckerd, turning around. 

“The command sequence is ‘Brave Up! J-Yuusha!’” Saejima posed while he said the command, then took a step back and watched Deckerd. “Do it with passion, Deckerd!” 

“Seriously?” asked Deckerd. “I-I mean, really, sir?”

“Like this!” Saejima did the pose again. “Brave Up! J-Yuusha!” 

Deckerd swallowed. “Brave Up! J-Yuusha!” He did the pose weakly. 

“ _With passion!_ ” Saejima crossed his arms and glared at Deckerd. “Where’s your youthful vigor, Officer? Put some ‘ompf’ into it!” 

Deckerd saluted. “Yes, sir! Sorry, sir!” 

“Again!” 

Deckerd cleared his throat and posed. “Brave Up! J-Yuusha!” he shouted. He felt like an idiot. 

“That’s the spirit!” crowed Saejima. 

Yuuta giggled. 

Deckerd raised an eyebrow and turned to stare at Yuuta.

Yuuta grinned at him.

“Huh?” Saejima walked up to Yuuta and studied him. “That’s odd.”

“Huh?” Yuuta looked around. “What’s wrong, Commissioner?”

“You should’ve transformed,” said Saejima. 

“But I don’t know how.” Yuuta drew his knees up to his chest. “I thought you were going to explain it?”

“You mean you don’t know how?” asked Saejima. 

Yuuta nodded slowly. “Is that bad?”

Saejima shook his head. “During the reformatting, that was part of data we gave you. I was expecting to surprise Deckerd, but…” 

“Could it be that this is the result of the file corruption Mr. Toudou mentioned?” asked Deckerd. 

“That’s the best explanation I have for it.” 

“I’m sorry.” Yuuta looked down at his feet. 

“It’s not your fault,” said Saejima. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “I’ll call Toudou and let him know about this. With any luck, it shouldn’t be too complicated.” 

He pulled out his phone and walked over, calling Toudou up. 

Yuuta picked Deckerd up and held him like a teddy bear. 

“It’s okay, Yuuta.” Deckerd patted Yuuta on the cheek. “We should have some time to work this out.” 

“I still feel bad about it,” grumbled Yuuta. 

Saejima was a little more animated than usual as he talked on the phone. Deckerd wasn’t sure if that was because something was going on, or because there wasn’t anyone around to see him moving with his hands so much. 

Finally, Saejima hung up and walked back over. “I have good news and bad news.” 

“What’s the good news?” asked Yuuta. 

“The good news is that Toudou says it’ll be relatively simple to add the combining data back in,” said Saejima. “And once it’s added back in, the data will be restored.” 

“And the bad news?” asked Deckerd.

“Do you remember some of those games that came out a decade or so ago?” asked Saejima. “The ones where you had to be able to execute a series of commands in the blink of an eye, or you’d lose the level?”

“I remember hating them,” said Deckerd. “I was relieved when they fell out of style.” 

Saejima crossed his arms. 

“Oh no.” 

“I said it was simple,” said Saejima. “Not easy.” 

Deckerd covered his face with his hands. 

“I think it sounds kind of fun,” said Yuuta, innocently. 

“Toudou’s people are working on a simulator for you,” Saejima continued. “If we start back down now, we should be there when they’re ready.”

“Right, then, sir,” said Deckerd. “Ready when you are.” 

 

The simulation failed for the third time. Deckerd was already fighting the urge to throw the controller against the wall. 

“It’s okay, Papa,” said Yuuta. “We’ll do it the next time.” 

Deckerd took a deep breath and tried again. And failed. 

And failed. 

And failed. 

And failed. 

And failed. 

And failed. 

“This is _really_ hard,” grumbled Yuuta. 

Deckerd nodded, squeezing the controller so hard that it started to crackle from the strain. 

“Any luck?” Toudou stuck his head into the simulation chamber. 

“No, sir,” grumbled Deckerd. 

Toudou laughed. “If you two need to take a break, go ahead. We have plenty of time to work this out.” 

“I actually doubt that.” Saejima hurried into the pod. 

“Is something wrong, guv?” asked Toudou.

“We have trouble,” said Saejima. “We need to go to the command center. Hurry!” 

 

“Citizens of the State of Japan,” declared the man on the screen. He was broad-shouldered, had a huge chin, and was wearing what looked like a 20th century military uniform. “I demand that the government surrender and cede all of its territory to me, the dark fiend Noriyasu Cato. Otherwise…” The screen switched to show a gigantic military jet, followed by a fleet of smaller jets, “I will send Barbarossa from the mountains to attack, and destroy, Tokyo!” 

“What the heck,” breathed Deckerd. 

“We are enroute,” said Cato. “You have one hour to meet our demands. I expect a reply by then.” He chuckled evilly as the feed cut out. 

“Then there’s no time,” said Toudou. 

“We’ll see about that!” Deckerd turned on his heel and ran back to the simulation room. 

 

Deckerd took a deep breath and restarted the simulation. J-Roader split apart into a massive body. Yuuta flew up and transformed into his altmode. J-Roader extended a platform for Yuuta to land on… and Yuuta bounded off. The glaring, cursed red of the error screen lit up the simulation pod, and Deckerd stomped his foot. 

He tried again, and the same thing happened. 

He tried again, and Yuuta flipped off over J-Roader. 

Deckerd bit his lip and tried again, trying to tune out the conversation coming through the doorway about how Barbarossa had destroyed the interception fleet the JDSF had sent. 

He tried again. And again. And again. 

As Yuuta clipped through the platform, the intercoms blared to life. 

“We will arrive in Tokyo in fifteen minutes,” declared the voice of Cato. “Decide now; would you prefer to serve me, or to die?”

Deckerd grit his teeth and tried again. 

In the simulation, Yuuta bounced off of the platform. 

Deckerd slammed his fist down on the console. “Stupid hopeless mess!” 

“Don’t give up, Papa!” said Yuuta. 

Deckerd looked up at the screen, where Yuuta was watching him. 

“If you’re too stressed to do it right, then you need to take a deep breath and then try again,” said Yuuta. “Like what you tell Auntie Azuki to do when she has trouble with her homework.” 

“R-right.” Deckerd took a deep breath, counted to ten, and tried again.

The platform extended too late, and Yuuta crashed to the ground. 

“D*MMIT!” 

“Papa!” gasped Yuuta. 

Saejima walked into the simulation pod. Deckerd realized that the door was wide open. 

Red-faced at the prospect of the Commissioner having heard him swear (and in front of Yuuta, to boot), Deckerd stood up and saluted. 

Saejima’s face was grim. “I’m afraid I have some bad news.” 

 

“We’re giving up?” asked Deckerd. 

“The government’s decided that we don’t have much of a choice,” said Saejima. 

“Mr. Commissioner!” Yuuta took a step forward. “Please let us try to stop him!” 

“Seriously?” asked Saejima. 

“The least we can do is try to buy some more time,” said Deckerd.

“I’ll fight my hardest!” Yuuta made a fist and looked down at Saejima with the flames of determination in his optics. “I’ll fight with everything I’ve got!” 

Saejima looked away, thought for a second, and sighed. “Fine. I’ll allow it.” He looked at Deckerd. “Don’t do anything too reckless.”

“No sir!” Deckerd saluted. “We won’t let you down!”

Yuuta saluted, a smile on his face. 

 

And now, there was the fleet, just beyond the mountains, almost at Tokyo.

Deckerd gulped, and looked at Yuuta. Yuuta’s sirens were blaring as he drove out ahead of him. 

“Ready when you are, Yuuta!” said Deckerd. 

“Right!” 

Deckerd slowed to a stop, and Yuuta sped ahead, transforming back into his robot form. 

“Hold up!” Yuuta grabbed his gun and badge, holding them up and posing just like he did when reading Detective Cory manga. “This is Yuuta of the Brave Police! Dark fiend Noriyasu Cato, you’re under arrest!” 

Above them, Cato laughed. “Try and stop me!” He put his hands together in a strange configuration and chanted. A group of jets broke off and fired at Yuuta. 

Yuuta looked up, saw them, and jumped out of the way. The jets shot where his torso had been, and the shockwave added a boost to his jump. Yuuta brought up his gun and fired at them, sending holes through the wings of one of the jets. 

As it wobbled in the air, Deckerd hit a marked set of buttons and flipped a switch. A pair on cannons on top of the J-Roader whirred to life, like Toudou had said they would. Deckerd grabbed a joystick and started firing at the jets. At least he was decent at first-person shooter games. 

A jet crashed next to him, courtesy of Yuuta. A pair of jets fired at Yuuta from behind. Yuuta saw them at the last second and jumped out of the way. 

Deckerd fired at them. 

The first one clipped a wing. The second hit an engine, and the first went down. The second jet exploded in a burst of flames courtesy of a direct hit to its main body. 

“Officer Tomonaga!” The comm screen flickered to life. 

“Mr. Toudou?” Deckerd started and blew a hole through the wing of a jet. 

“We have trouble!” 

A nearby explosion shook J-Roader. Deckerd yelped. 

“Are you okay!” 

“I’m fine.” Deckerd went back to firing. A jet swooped down on a strafing run, and Yuuta shot it at what was practically point-blank range, before ducking into cover to reload. 

“I raided the Airmanian Embassy for the plans to the fleet, and I found something worrying.” 

“What did you—,” 

Deckerd stopped mid-sentence at the sound of something mechanical changing shape. He glanced at Yuuta, who was still in robot form and was looking up as…

“Oh dear,” gasped Deckerd. 

One by one, the remaining jets changed shape, switching from jets to humanoid robots. 

“We found that they can do _that_.” 

The Jet-Bots fired missiles until it was raining ordinance. An explosion knocked Yuuta off his feet, and Deckerd couldn’t see a recovery as missiles exploded next to him, shaking J-Roader like a leaf. 

“Thanks for the info!” Deckerd shouted as he held on tight. He gunned the engine and turned the steering wheel as far as it would go, sending J-Roader shooting away from the crater-strewn clearing. 

A shape flew out of the dust cloud, and soon Yuuta’s alt-mode was driving right next to him. 

“Deckerd, can you hear me?” Saejima appeared on the comm screen. “It’s time for you to return to base! You can’t fight those things without J-Yuusha!” 

“I can do it!” shouted Yuuta. 

“What?” yelped Deckerd. 

“Nonsense, Yuuta!” Toudou shoved himself into the frame. “That’s a delicate operation! We can’t risk it!” 

“I think Papa couldn’t do it because it was a simulation!” shouted Yuuta. “If he can really do it with me, I know it’ll work!” 

“But you’re a robot too, Yuuta!” 

“I have a heart! I know it’ll work!” 

“Yuuta…” Deckerd glanced over at him. 

“I am a robot with a heart!” declared Yuuta. “Between me and Papa, we can synchronize and get it right! Please, trust us!” 

“But Yuuta—,” 

Deckerd took a deep breath and shut off the comm. “Let’s do it, Yuuta.” 

“Alright, Papa!” 

Deckerd jammed his foot on the brake, and as soon as J-Roader stopped, he ran from the cabin, remote in hand. 

“Papa, listen to me!” Yuuta transformed back into robot form. “I need you to control J-Roader like you’re me, and I’ll transform and dock like I’m you!” 

“Sounds like a solid plan!” Deckerd gripped the remote. “Ready?”

The Jet-Bots were bearing down on them. 

“Ready!” Yuuta took off like a shot toward the fleet. Deckerd used the remote, and soon J-Roader was driving alongside him. 

Deckerd took a deep breath and began the unification sequence. J-Roader’s top split, and its jets engaged, propelling it into the air. The cabin transformed and split, turning into shoulders that extruded into arms. 

As the wings were formed, the Jet-Bots started firing on J-Roader. 

Deckerd swallowed down his panic. _‘What would Yuuta do in this situation?’_ He grit his teeth. ‘ _He’d keep at it, of course.’_

Yuuta jumped up, flipping and transforming into his alt mode in midair. This was the moment of truth. 

The Jet-Bots readied another barrage of fire. 

“Brave Up!” shouted Deckerd. “J-YUUSHA!”

The platform extended, and Yuuta slammed down into it, fitting perfectly. The front of the car flipped down to form a breastplate, and then back half formed a head. Yuuta’s face appeared inside the gaping mouth, before it was covered by a mouth-plate. 

“J-YUUSHA!” crowed the mech, pumping his fists and striking a pose, lights flashing.

“What the—,” Cato’s face was a mask of rage. 

“J-Yuusha!” shouted Deckerd. “Let’s kick some butt!” 

“Alright!” shouted J-Yuusha. He jumped and lunched into the sky, coming to meet the Jet-Bots in their home environments. he pulled out a police baton and swung it at one of them. It tore through the plating like it was tinfoil. 

Yuuta zig-zagged, dodging gunfire and tearing into the Jet-Bots. He knocked one out of its armor, and the endoskeleton fell back and exploded. 

“J-Buster!” A compartment opened in J-Yuusha’s leg, and he pulled out a large, heavy-looking gun. He whirled around and fired one, twice, three times! One, two, three Jet-Bots exploded, shot perfectly through the middle. 

A Jet-Bot fired at J-Yuusha. J-Yuusha dodged and flew toward the robot. He kicked it in the stomach and swung his baton at it, and the Jet-Bot exploded. Two more came up, but J-Yuusha knocked  one away with his baton and shot the other one with rapid fire. Its head disintegrated, and it exploded. 

“Wow,” breathed Deckerd. The fleet that was in danger of taking over the country was reduced to falling debris, as J-Yuusha tore and shot and kicked them into so many pieces of expensive scrap. 

A Jet-Bot appeared behind J-Yuusha, out of a cloud of smoke. 

“Behind you!” shouted Deckerd. 

J-Yuusha whirled around and shot an energy beam out of his baton, obliterating the Jet-Bot. 

Cato cursed. He made hand movements and threw something out into the air. It almost looked like—

“ _Ofuda?_ ” murmured Deckerd. 

A spark ran through the swarm, and they transformed into a swarm of bat-like creatures. They flocked to J-Yuusha, covering him. Sparks flew into the air, and J-Yuusha started screaming. His baton slipped out of his hand, and fell to the ground below. It embedded itself in the soil, and stood upright. 

“J-Yuusha!” shouted Deckerd. Above him, Cato started cackling, while standing on the deck of his plane. 

Deckerd ran for the baton and grabbed it. Cato was flying up to J-Yuusha. 

Deckerd took the baton and shifted it with what felt like more strength than he possessed, shifting the baton the tiny bit it needed, until it was pointed at Cato and the Barbarossa. The baton hummed with energy as it readied a blast. 

“This is what you get for messing with my son!” shouted Deckerd. “Eat baton!” the baton fired an energy blast. It zoomed through the air and hit the Barbarossa directly. 

The bat-creatures turned back into _ofuda_ , and J-Yuusha shook them off. 

“Thanks Papa!” He held out the J-Buster, and it transformed into a rifle. He took aim and fired, and a bolt of energy shout out, piercing through one of the Barbarossa’s engines and causing it to explode. 

The Barbarossa was consumed by flames, and it spiraled down, until it crashed into the side of a mountain. 

“W-we did it!” Deckerd gripped the remote. “We did it!” A rush of bubbling glee coursed through him, and he jumped for joy. 

J-Yuusha landed next to him and stood up. “Papa, I saw someone parachute off of the Barbarossa.” 

“Probably Cato.” Deckerd took a deep breath. “Come on. Let’s go and pick him up.” 

 

The Dark Fiend Noriyasu Cato, master of the dark arts, grumbled as he hung from the tree his parachute had caught in. 

Large, mechanical footsteps echoed through the trees, and he looked up to see a police officer standing on a robotic hand. He looked muscular, and his surprisingly clean police hat was sitting on raven-colored, vaguely-feminine-looking hair. He would have made a cute girl, if only he wasn’t so insufferable-looking. The infamous Deckerd Tomonaga, head of the Brave Police. 

“Curse you, you bug!” Cato put his hands together, ready to curse this man within an inch of his life. 

Then, the hand lifted up, and some very angry-looking robotic eyes glared at him. 

Cato gulped and put his hands down. 

Tomonaga pulled out a police badge. “Dark Fiend Noriyasu Cato, you’re under arrest.” 

 

“Alright.” Toudou slipped the memory card back into Deckerd’s badge. “Now you can use your badge to issue the command.” 

“Thank you.” Deckerd took the badge back and turned it over in his hand. He paused, and glanced over at Saejima. “Commissioner, is everything okay?”

Saejima grunted. 

“Is it because I cut the comms on him?” asked Deckerd. 

“No,” said Toudou. “He’s sulking because he didn’t get to see the unification for the first time.” Toudou grinned. 

“SHUT UP TOUDOU!” shouted Saejima, whirling around. 

Toudou laughed. and Deckerd couldn’t help but snort. 

Yuuta laughed. “You’re so childish, Mr. Saejima!” 

Deckerd laughed and nodded. 

Saejima opened and closed his mouth, desperately trying to think of a retort. When he came up empty, he turned on his heel and went back to glaring holes in the hangar door. 

While Toudou laughed, Deckerd turned and took up at J-Yuusha. 

Despite the metal covering his face, Deckerd knew that J-Yuusha was smiling back down at him. 

 

***

 

_“Why do you have to be so difficult?” groaned Saejima._

_“Even if we’re keeping the Super AI in Yuuta, it doesn’t mean the other have to have them.” Azuma crossed his arms. “They’re intended for a different purpose anyway.”_

_“Maybe, maybe not.” Toudou shook his head. “But Yuuta and Officer Tomonaga aren’t going to like this.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cover art by Psyche_Angel!


	4. Threat From Another World! Enter Build Team!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Brave Police starts to grow in its ranks as the Build team joins the fray! However, without sentient AIs of their own, Deckerd and Yuuta don’t know what to make of them. Will our heroes be able to work with their new additions? Let’s hope so, because something lurks in the dump and it’s going to cause quite the surge…

__

_It all happened very fast. In what seemed like an instant, unbeknownst to the sleeping masses of Nanamagari city, something had crashed into the city’s dump from the depths of space. Something that could only be described as “alien”._

_____

Deckerd sat in the driver's seat of Yuuta's vehicle mode, tapping his fingers on his knees and keeping his focus on the road. He had only been given a vague brief from the Commissioner and some coordinates near the police station: "I got a surprise for both of you. You're going to love this."

"You think it's a good surprise, papa?" Yuuta chirped.

Deckerd chuckled as he put his hand on the wheel. "I'm sure it is." he said, "We'll see when we get there."

In a matter of minutes, they approached what looked like a construction site with Saejima at the entrance waving at them and Azuma standing straight with his hands behind his back. Yuuta slowed down as soon as they arrived, letting his papa out of the driver’s seat before transforming into his robot mode.

“Commissioner Saejima. Vice Commissioner Azuma.” Deckerd saluted, immediately being met with Saejima’s hand going up.

“At ease, officer,” Saejima chuckled, crossing his arms a bit, “I was just about to show you two around the site so far.”

If Azuma weren’t there, Yuuta would be running around the construction site, exploring what he can. Instead, he opted to look around, swiveling his head as he was barely able to contain his excitement. So far, the only things notable at the site were some piles of dirt, metal stuff, construction vehicles, and a pop-up tent in the middle of the site with a small table under its shade.

Saejima lead the group to the tent. He grabbed a roll of blueprint paper leaning on the post and quickly sprawled it on the table, revealing what looked like the plans for the room in a spacecraft. Yuuta’s optics widened, crouching down to get as close a look as he can and grinning from ear to ear.

“Is that what’s gonna be here?” Yuuta asked, shaking in all of the excitement.

Saejima let out a chuckle as he turned to Yuuta. “Here’s going to be your command room.” He stood tall, pointing upwards to further emphasize his point, “the Yuusha Room will be large enough to fit a number of Braves! From here, you and the others can gain briefings on any cases coming your way!”

“Others?” Deckerd inquired, cocking his brow.

Yuuta’s optics gleamed, shooting up like a rocket and frantically looking around.

“Other Braves?” Yuuta started to run around, “We got other Braves? Can we meet them now?”

Azuma furrowed his brow as Saejima let out a hearty chuckle.

“That’s the plan!” Saejima struck a mighty pose, puffing out his chest in great vigor as he yelled out “CHANGE!” with all his might! Azuma, in the meanwhile, was shaking his head in the background.

Much to the surprise of the Brave Detective and his papa, the three construction vehicles suddenly transformed into three giant robots!

The crane had the frame of a tall woman, standing firm in its green and yellow armor and blue optics examining the terrain. Its helm resembled a cap with hooks hanging on both sides. The power shovel was smaller than the other two, resembling a martial artist in its yellow armor with a green belt around its waist. Bluish green optics scanned the area as the shovel on its head swooped back like some kind of bandana. The dump truck was somewhere between the two in height, but also bulkier than the two. Red armor cladded the green eyed Brave, bearing what resembled a spiked ponytail coming out the back of its helm.

Yuuta couldn’t believe his eyes! Other Braves! More family!

He gleamed towards his papa. “Are they my sisters?” He asked, optics shining in glee, “Do I got big sisters now?”  
Deckerd returned the smile as he nodded. “Why don’t we introduce ourselves?”

“Officer Tomonaga, you’re jumping to conclu—,” Azuma’s objections were interrupted with the sound of Yuuta’s running towards the three new Braves.

“Hello! I’m Yuuta! It’s nice to meet you!”

The three Braves’ optics started to glow.

“Now awaiting orders.” The three Braves spoke in monotone with blank expressions on their faces.

Yuuta froze in place, looking up at them. His gleeful tone was quickly dismissed and replaced with one of unease. He got a better look at the tall robots, now looming over him like unfeeling monoliths. He took a step backwards, holding back a whimper.

Deckerd glanced to both the commissioner and vice commissioner.

“They’re not sentient?” Deckerd asked.

Saejima was about to speak up, but Azuma had beat him to the punch.

“It was a decision made by the board of directors.” Azuma explained, walking towards Deckerd and looking him in the eye. “BP-301, 302, and 303 have no need to be sentient like BP-110.”

“My name’s Yuuta…” Yuuta mumbled.

Azuma maintained his stoic demeanor. “Their purpose is to act as support in combat situations should BP-110 be unable to handle them. They don’t need sentience.”

Decked took a deep breath. “They’re still Braves. They should—,”

“Officer Tomonaga,” Azuma interrupted, sternly glaring at him, “if your interactions with BP-110 caused it to act like a child, what’s to say the same won’t happen to the other three?”

He got him beat there. As much as he loved Yuuta, Deckerd had to admit his energy can be hard to handle at times. He sighed and nodded.

“I understand, sir”, he said, watching Yuuta look at the other Braves in disappointment.

 _Doesn’t mean I like it_ , he wanted to add.

____

Deckerd sat at the table, playing with the cake on his plate and sighing.

“How’s Yuuta taking things?” asked Kurumi, busy trying to balance her fork on her nose.

He shook his head, putting the fork aside. “Not well,” he said, “but I can’t blame him. We were both really excited about this.”

“I’m really sorry to hear that,” said Azuki, ready to take a bite of her own cake, “I’m sure they might change their mind soon.”

Just as she was about to take a bite of her cake slice, Deckerd’s badge had started to beep. He grabbed the badge and answered.

“Yuuta, is everythin—,”

“PAPA, HELP ME!” Yuuta hollered from the communicator, “THERE’S STRANGERS HERE! THEY WON’T LEAVE ME ALONE!”

Without skipping a beat, Deckerd shot out of his chair and bolted for the front door. The moment he stepped out, Yuuta’s tiny car form was already zooming around and quickly hiding behind Deckerd, already shivering in his place. Deckerd stood ready to defend him, only to find three of his neighbours looking at him.

“Is everything alright?!” Kurumi screamed, busting through the front door with Azuki close behind.

The older woman among the three, sporting a floral pink apron and curly hair, stepped forward.

“Oh, we didn’t mean to scare the poor dear!” She claimed with a softened look on her face, “We only wanted to meet him for ourselves!”

The elderly man in the headband started to laugh.

“You got quite the shy one for a kid, huh, Deck?” he stepped forward and gave Deckerd a pat on the back strong enough to nearly knock over the younger man, “Welcome to parenthood, you silly kid!”

Deckerd rubbed his back, wincing a bit from the pain of the impact.

“Thank you, Coach…” He glanced to the side a bit, noting Yuuta still shivering a bit in his car form. Deckerd couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

“It’s okay, Yuuta,” he calmly said, petting Yuuta’s hood, “they’re not going to hurt you.”

Yuuta barely peeked from behind Deckerd, but quickly zoomed back in place in an attempt to hide.

Deckerd looked toward his neighbours in a sheepish manner. “I’m sorry,” he said, “Yuuta’s not normally this shy.”

The dark-skinned man chuckled, wiping the dust off his apron. “It is no trouble, Deckerd.” He started to approach the two slowly. “Little children are almost all like this when they meet new people. Perhaps you should introduce us?”

Deckerd nodded, moving to the side and placing his hand on Yuuta’s roof.

“Yuuta, these are our neighbours.” Deckerd gestured to the elderly man, “this is—,”

“Let me handle this, you silly kid!” The elderly man grinned, wiping at his nose a bit, “Daisaku Omura’s the name! But you best call me Coach, okay?”

Yuuta peeked a bit from behind Deckerd, his headlights “blinking” timidly towards Coach as if nodding.

Azuki stepped forward, gesturing her hand to the dark skinned man.

“This is Mr. Mudra,” She said, “He owns the local curry shop and shares great recipes for dinner.”

Mr. Mudra smiled warmly to Azuki. “You flatter me, Ms. Tomonaga, but thank you.” He turned to Yuuta and bowed. “It is nice to meet you, Yuuta.”

Yuuta peeked out a little more, stuttering a little “Hello, Mr. Mudra” in response.

Kurumi strode ahead and motioned a jazz hands movement to the older woman.

“And this,” she announced with enthusiasm, “is Mrs. Itohata! She’s stays around the neighbourhood, so that’s how she literally knows almost everything here!”

Mrs. Itohata gawked a bit. “Oh, now that’s not true!” She laughed, “Don’t you listen to what your aunty says, dearie!”

“I think you mean his cool aunty, ma’am!”

They started to share a laugh. Yuuta giggled along, soon after directing his headlights to Deckerd. Deckerd gave a quick nod, stepping aside a bit to give Yuuta space to transform into his robot form. Yelling out a quick “Change!”, he stood tall in his robotic form with his eyes on his new friends.

“Officer Yuuta Tomonaga, at your service,” he chirped, saluting as best he could.

The neighbours cheered, clapping their hands and awing at what they had witnessed. Yuuta’s optics glowed with his smile.

Kurumi pulled out her phone from her pocket.

“Looks like you made some new friends, Yoots!” She started prepping the camera. “Let me take a picture of this!”

He crouched down and did a peace sign for the camera. The neighbours leaned against him a bit doing their own poses, changing it every so often for every picture Kurumi took. While the group were getting along swimmingly, Deckerd leaned against the fence and smiled.

“At least he’s not scared of them anymore,” he remarked.

Azuki, on the other hand, watched in worry. “I still have to clean up the table too.” she noted, “Maybe I should ask them to leave.”

“Good evening.”

The two turned to see a young man carrying his books, Azuki quickly flushing at the sight of him.

The young man brushed back his hair as he walked closer. “Things seem quite lively here, don’t they?” he remarked with a warm smile.

“O-oh, hello!” Azuki started to twirl and tug at her braid. “What brings you here?”

“I was just on my way home from the library. Those research reports won’t write themselves, you know?”

As the two were sharing a chuckle, Yuuta couldn’t help but squint in their direction.

“Mrs. Itohata, who’s that guy?” he asked.

Mrs. Itohata chuckled, pointing to the young man.

“That’s Masaya Kashiwazaki,” she whispered to Yuuta, “Azuki’s crush since grade school. But you didn’t here that from me now, okay?”

Yuuta blinked. “What’s a crush?”

“It means Azuki wants to do mushy romance stuff with him” Kurumi interjected.

Yuuta couldn’t help but gag, quickly earning a laugh from the neighbours and a glance from Kashiwazaki.

“This is your new nephew, right?” he inquired.

Azuki snapped out of her daze and quickly stepped forward with a nod.

“Oh, that’s right. You haven’t met Yuuta yet.” She looked towards Yuuta and gestured her arms to the young man. “Yuuta, this is Kashiwazaki-san. He’s a good friend of mine.”

Kashiwazaki bowed to the brave detective. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Yuuta.” He smiled to the young Brave. “I hope we can get along well.”

Yuuta pouted in response and lowered himself to the young man’s eye level. “Are you gonna start doing mushy stuff with Aunty Azuki now?”

Kurumi couldn’t help but burst into laughter as Azuki started to sputter. Deckerd tried to keep a stern expression himself, resisting a chuckle climbing its way up his throat.

“Y-Yuuta, you shouldn’t ask those things…” Deckerd remarked, noting Azuki’s worry.

Kashiwazaki waved his free hand in front of him as he chuckles nervously. “A-Azuki’s my friend. I’m not sure she’d want to do ‘mushy stuff’ with me.”

Kurumi laughed even harder. Azuki, on the other hand, wanted to hide for a very long time.

Yuuta nodded in approval, then focused his gaze on the books in the young man’s arm.

“What kind of books are those?” he asked, trying to take a closer look.

Kashiwazaki carefully grabbed one of his books from his book belt and showed it to Yuuta.

“They’re medical books.” He started to open one up, showing diagrams of different molecules. “I’m studying to be a doctor so I can help people.”

Yuuta took a closer look, searching his databanks on what doctors were. A small epiphany dawned on him.

“So, you’re like Mr. Toudou?” He tilted his head a bit. “Do you fix people?”

He chuckled. “Well, I’m going to one day.” He opened the book a little more to show Yuuta. “I’m still studying right now, so I have to learn as much as I can now.”

“Cool…” Yuuta was about to immerse himself in Kashiwazaki’s books, when a thought crossed his processor. “So, if you’re a student, Mr. Mudra runs a curry shop, and Mrs. Itohata stays at home, what does Coach do?”

Kashiwazaki blinked, pondering a bit. “I actually don’t know—”

Suddenly, Coach started laughing, causing everyone to turn towards him. He grinned while wiping his nose.

“This is perfect!” He announced with a grin, “I’ve been meaning to show you lot Denkichi once the kid got in the picture!”

Yuuta blinked while tilting his head.

“Denkichi?”

___

It took the whole group a good half hour to reach the construction yard; most of the time being dedicated to Coach to set up everything. Near the entrance of the yard was a large makeshift table made from thick metal sheets and oil drums. Right behind it was a small warehouse with its doors only slightly open. The dim lights inside barely highlighted a large clunky silhouette.

Rumbling started to come from the warehouse as robotic arms practically tore the doors wide open, revealing a red mecha roughly the size of Yuuta with Coach clearly seen in the cockpit wiping his nose.

Yuuta’s optics opened in awe.

“Whoa!” He directed his head to Deckerd. “Papa, what is that?”

“It’s a construction mecha,” he explained, “Though it looks like one of the older models, too.”

“You got that right!” Coach gripped the controls and moved the mecha forward. “This is my partner, Denkichi! And today we’re gonna challenge you!”

“Ch-Challenge?!” Deckerd looking between Yuuta and Coach. He knew Yuuta was already very strong, but challenging him? Were they going to fight? What if Yuuta got hurt? Or worse; what if Yuuta accidentally hurt Coach?

“Bingo!” Coach lead Denkichi to the makeshift table and put its elbow on the table.

Deckerd breathed a rather obvious sigh of relief. Thank goodness, he only meant arm wrestling. Looking up at Yuuta, he noticed his son hadn’t moved at all. In fact, he had gone into the confused expression of tilting his head slightly. Deckerd chuckled.

“It’s a game.” Deckerd led his son to the makeshift table. “Just do what Coach is doing, okay?”

Yuuta nodded, kneeling down and placing his elbow on the metal sheet. He tensed as Denkichi’s claw suddenly grabbed his hand. He looked up at Coach, who gave him a reassuring look.

“May the best man win, kiddo!”

Denkichi’s arm suddenly moved his down, giving Yuuta barely enough time to react in kind. He puffed his cheek a bit, moving his own arm against Denkichi’s and pushing slightly at it. The neighbours cheered for both parties, expecting them both to be putting their all into this one match.

Except Yuuta had barely moved since that initial push.

He looked to his papa, hand unmoving from its position as Coach still attempted to at least push their hands a little.

“Papa, what do I do now?”

 _In hindsight_ , Deckerd thought, _I probably should have explained it to him before they started._

“Push his hand to the table, Yoots!” Kurumi hollered, jumping up and down in her excitement.

The brave detective let out a small “ohhhh” before effortlessly bringing Denkichi’s arm down onto the table (along with Denkichi and Coach). Looking to the group again, he grinned as he shot up on his feet.

“Did I win?” He beamed, fists close to his chest and shivering in excitement. “I won, didn’t I?”

Deckerd nodded, watching Yuuta break into a small happy dance. He chuckled at Yuuta’s excitement before eying Coach still in his fallen mech. As if on cue, he and the others rushed to Coach and helped him out of Denkichi.

“Are you okay, Coach?”

 “Your kid packs quite the punch there,” Coach chuckled as he wiped the dust off his clothes, “I didn’t think he could actually bring us down.”

“But I totally did!” Yuuta cheered, sitting down and directing his gaze to Deckerd, “You saw me, right, papa? I brought Denkichi down easy!”

Deckerd glanced at an already defeated coach before walking up to Yuuta and placing his hand on Yuuta’s leg.

“I think that’s enough now, Yuuta,” he chided, giving Yuuta a soft look.

“But I won, didn’t I? I thought people when they win.” He tilted his head, looking more confused than anything. “Did I do something wrong?”

“Celebrating is fine,” Deckerd started, looking him in the optics, “But there’s still a limit for how much you should celebrate. If Coach won and he started celebrating this much, would you feel good?”

That seemed to get the wheels in Yuuta’s processor turning. He started to rub his forearm, looking down on his feet with a pout.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized, “I just got really excited.”

Coach wiped his nose, looking right up at Yuuta with a friendly smile.

“Ah, it’s your first game, you silly kid. Just bruised my ego, that’s all.” He patted Yuuta on the shin. “Don’t let it get to your head again, okay?”

Yuuta nodded and looked to Denkichi. “Will Denkichi be alright?” He asked.

“Ah, the ole girl’s been through tougher strains than that,” he stated, rubbing the back of his neck, “Though I don’t know how I’m gonna get her back up…”

Yuuta paused a bit before walking towards the construction mecha, slowly helping it stand on its own two feet. He even tried his best to dust off all the dirt. Once he finished, he took a good look at Denkichi, placing his hands on his hips and nodding in satisfaction.

“There!” He affirmed himself, “All better now!”

Coach started to laugh.

“Thanks a lot, you silly kid!” He gave a good pat on Yuuta’s leg. “She looks good as new!”

Yuuta practically glowed in his praise. Azuki, Kurumi, and Mrs. Itohata were awing at Yuuta (Kurumi taking many pictures of the occasion). Mr. Mudra looked to Deckerd with a knowing smile.

“He has a very good heart, Deckerd.” He crossed his arms and looked towards Yuuta talking with the others. “You must be very proud.”

Deckerd couldn’t agree more.

___

 “Do you think I can play with Denkichi again?”

Yuuta leaned carefully against Deckerd’s window, looking in his bedroom and watching his papa write some late night reports. Deckerd leaned back against his chair and looked towards Yuuta.

“I’m not sure.” He started to explain. “Coach still has to work tomorrow, and he’s going to need Denkichi to do so.”

Yuuta pouted a bit, looking down at his feet before meeting Deckerd’s gaze again.

“Are there other people I can play with?” Yuuta asked, tilting his head a bit.

Deckerd sighed once more. “I don’t know.”

Yuuta pouted a bit, optics wandering aimlessly around the room. Deckerd started to direct his attention back to his computer, typing up his notes at a slowed pace.

 _Come to think of it_ , he thought to himself, _Yuuta doesn’t have anyone to interact with._

“Papa?”

He shifted his attention from the computer to Yuuta, leaning back against the chair.

“Yes, Yuuta?”

Yuuta pressed his fingers together, looking down before directing his attention back to his papa.

“Why can’t the other Braves have a heart?”

That struck a chord with Deckerd. Of course his son was lonely. He didn’t want to give the explanation Azuma gave to him; it would break his heart. Deckerd saved his files and shut down the computer, walking up to the window and leaning against the window sill.

“Tell you what,” he smiled, patting Yuuta on the cheek, “Tomorrow we’ll go talk to the commissioner to see if we can change their minds. Maybe after that, we can get the other Braves to play with you, okay?”

“Really?” Yuuta beamed at that thought. It would be great to play with them!

Deckerd chuckled and nodded, placing a small kiss on Yuuta’s nose.

“Now go to bed now, okay?” He patted Yuuta’s helm. “We have a big day tomorrow.”

Yuuta nodded.

“Good night, papa!” He quickly nuzzled Deckerd before going into his car form and going into the garage.

Deckerd smiled and let out a sigh. He walked towards the bed, lying back against the mattress and letting fatigue take over.

 _Tomorrow, I’ll convince them_ , his thoughts drifted into sleep, _first thing in the morning, that’s what I’ll do._

_____

His slumber was abruptly interrupted with the sudden sounds of his sisters screaming downstairs. Bolting up from his slumber, he saw his alarm clock setting off sparks and jumping from the bedside. His computer had a similar effect, sparking itself to be untouchable.

Deckerd rushed downstairs to find his sisters near the kitchen door, standing back and shielding themselves from the haywire kitchen appliances. The whole house had become a static-y mess!

“Everyone outside, now!”

Deckerd rushed his sisters out of the house. The moment he stepped out, a wave of static rushed over him, flooding the streets of his neighbourhood and sending every electronic device haywire.

Yuuta rushed out of the garage and quickly changed to his robot form, quickly clenching his head and shutting his optics.

“E-everything hurts!” He gritted his teeth, struggling to stay on his feet. “Papa, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know!” Deckerd started looking around. His eyes caught a strange smoke cloud down the street, steadily growing in size as a large object started getting closer. It almost looked like—

“Denkichi?!” Yuuta hollered, barely registering enough time to the construction mecha ramming at him at full force!

He started to push back, feet bolted into the ground and Stopping the mecha in its tracks. It continued to push forward, thrashing at Yuuta with unrelenting force and attempting to pound the Brave detective to the ground.

Deckerd tried to open his mouth to give some kind of advice, but he was at a loss. If Yuuta moved the mecha, he would put the neighbourhood in danger. If he fought back, he could break Denkichi easily. If he didn’t fight back, he would get pummeled! Deckerd had to think of something!

“Oi! Deckerd!”

As if on cue, Coach and the other neighbours started to run towards the family. Deckerd stood bay, watching the old man catch his breath and pit his gaze to Yuuta and Denkichi in their shoving match.

“I don’t know what’s goin’ on!” he stood up straight, keeping his eye on the fight. “One minute, she’s working fine, the next, she started going crazy!”

“I-I’m trying to stop her!” Yuuta pushed forward more, attempting to block the mecha’s blows.

“He needs to stop it!” Deckerd directed a stern look to Coach. “I know you care about Denkichi, but—”

 “I know, you silly kid!” Coach wiped his nose and cupped his mouth. “Kid! Thanks for understanding, but you can take down Denkichi!”

Yuuta widened his optics.

“B-but—”

“She’s handled worse than this before! Just make it quick!”

Yuuta shut his eyes and quickly shoved Denkichi back. Grabbing his pistol, he aimed and fired a single shot into the motor. Instantly, the construction mecha ceased its movements, giving Yuuta the chance to lean forward and rest.

“Yuuta!” Deckerd ran to his son. “Are you okay?”

Yuuta gave a curt nod, sniffling a bit and crouching down to the group’s level.

“I-I’m sorry I broke Denkichi,” he started to sob, “I-I tried to be careful, really.”

Deckerd sighed, patting Yuuta’s arm and comforting him with a “shhhhhh”.

“It’s okay, Yuuta. He knows you didn’t mean to.”

Coach wiped his nose a bit and gave him a grin.

“Means a lot that you care, kid,” Coach patted his back, only wincing a bit from whacking his hand on hard metal. “Besides, it won’t cost too much to repair the old girl with just motor damage.”

Mrs. Itohata leaned into the side of Yuuta’s helm.

“The last time he broke Denkichi, he had 50 payments to make just to fix her up,” she whispered not-so inconspicuously.

Coach shot her a look.

“It was only 49 payments!”

“I do not think it is much of a difference, my friend.” Mr. Mudra shrugged, chuckling.

Coach started to put up a fuss, earning a laugh from the others. Yuuta even chimed in with a small giggle.

 _At least he’s feeling better now,_ Deckerd mused before his thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of his badge beeping. Without skipping a beat, he quickly flipped it open and looked to the screen inside. Saejima’s face was made visible on the tiny screen with Azuma in the background looking onward.

“Sir!” Deckerd gave a quick salute, quickly followed by Yuuta’s own once the little Brave noticed the call.

“If you’re not too busy, Deckerd,” coordinates started to appear on the side of the screen as Saejima spoke, “we need you to meet with us and the Build Team here.”

“We may have found the source of the interference,” Azuma added, “so get here as quickly as possible.”

The call signed off, leaving the officer to equip his badge on his side and giving a nod to his son. Yuuta gave a nod in return, quickly changing into his car form and opening his door.

“Will you be okay, sir?” Kashiwazaki asked.

Deckerd gave a nod, taking up the driver’s seat and looking to his sisters.

“Stay here, alright?” Deckerd looked head, putting his seatbelt on. “Let’s go, Yuuta!”

The pair zoomed off, leaving the group to watch them go into the distance.

___

They arrived at Main Street to bear witness to the Build Team thrashing at any malfunctioning robots. Their movements were automatic, unwavering to the pleas of workers who ran the machines or the concerned awe of the civilians around them. In some respect, they were unstoppable. Indomitable.

And it scared Yuuta to the core.

Quickly letting his papa out, Yuuta changed in haste and ran to the Build team, shoving the crane Brave away from an already demolished painter robot.

“Stop it! All of you!” he screamed at his loudest volume, “That’s enough! Just stop!!”

Instantly, the three Braves stood by, arms at their sides and faces ever empty. Yuuta stumbled forward from the crane’s sudden change of position and watched them slowly loom over him.

“Now awaiting orders,” Their synchronized monotone prompted.

Yuuta squinted his optics, trying to sear his resentment into their own unfeeling ones. Deckerd searched through the streets to find the commissioner and vice commissioner standing by and watching the Build team. Commissioner Saejima turned to him, arms crossed and looking him in the eye.

“Sir,” Decked saluted quickly saluted to the two, “you said you found the source?”

Saejime gave a sigh and a nod, before looking Deckerd right in the eye.

“Would you believe me if I said an alien’s causing this?”

“… an alien?” Deckerd cocked his brow, lowering his hand. “Are you certain—”

“We’ve no time to waste now.” Azuma kept a hold on the suitcase in his arms and looked to the other Braves. “Build Team, change and prepare to leave!”

“Command acknowledged,” they said, shifting into their vehicular modes.

Azuma took notice in Yuuta remaining untransformed, still squinting his eyes at the other Braves. He looked up at the small Brave.

“BP-110—”

“Yuuta.” The Brave Detective stood tall, holding back tears but still barely holding back his anger. “My name is Yuuta.”

Azuma stood back, his visage bearing a mixture of insult, anger, and a twinge of fear. He watched Deckerd step forward, patting Yuuta on the shin and giving him a comforting look. Before he could protest, Yuuta was already wiping his tears away, picking up the officer and nuzzling him like some sort of teddy bear. Deckerd rubbed his cheek, comforting him in a soft voice.

It was incredulous to Azuma. While he couldn’t doubt the Brave’s sentience, he still questioned why things ended up so strangely. Why would Saejima want to keep the Brave Detective this way?

“I told you before,” Azuma had his thoughts interrupted with Saejima’s hand on his shoulder as the latter mused, “they weren’t going to like your decision.”

Saejima started walking towards the duo, his face still turned towards to his friend.

“He really is much stronger for having a heart.”

Azuma took a deep breath and kept his stern expression.

“We’ll see when we face this threat.”

___

The group drove up the entrance of the junkyard, encountering floating broken appliances and devices surrounding what looked like an triangular rock with a crack in the middle of it and two metal antennae on top. From the crack was an ominous red glow, similar to the static affecting the machines around it. Letting the humans out, the Braves swiftly changed into their robotic forms. Yuuta immediately recoiled, holding his head in his hands and clenching his optics.

“Papa, it hurts more!”

Deckerd rushed to Yuuta’s side, placing his hand on Yuuta’s leg.

“Do you need to sit out?” he inquired, concern riddling his face. Yuuta shook his head, rubbing his temples to block out the pain. The officer directed his attention to his superiors. “Commissioner, what _is_ that thing?”

“Like I said, an alien.” Saejima looked right at Azuma and gave a nod to him. “We had scanners at HQ determine the signals to be not of terrestrial origin.”

The other man set the briefcase down and opened it to reveal a metallic cloth. Carefully lifting the sheet out, Azuma opened up the sheet for everyone to see.

“This sheet was specially made for blocking out all signals, especially electricity.” Azuma explained, keeping his eye on the alien. “We need to wrap it in this before any more damage is done to the city.”

Saejima turned to Yuuta. “We need to get this done quickly and the other Braves will be right behind you. Can you do this?”

Yuuta took a quick glance at the taller Braves behind him, still on standby and not having moved an inch. He huffed slightly, looking to Saejima and taking the metal sheet carefully as he nodded.

“I’ll do my best.”

Step by step, Yuuta carefully approached the rock with the metal blanket. Just a bit closer. A little longer with the dull headache. It’d be over fast—

The crack on the rock split open, revealing a ginormous pink eye staring right at Yuuta! Was this thing alive?!

“Yuuta, get out of there!” Deckerd hollered, immediately taking out his badge.

Red energy pooled between the rock’s antennae and started to pulse through the air, shocking the electronics around it. The shock on his badge caught Deckerd off guard, dropping it immediately and watching its internal systems explode. Even the Braves were hit with the red static, with each shock attacking their frames.

Yuuta let out a blood curling scream, holding his head even tighter and curling in on himself as he dropped the sheet at his feet.

 **“Yuuta!”** Deckerd tried to rush to his son, only to be stopped by Azuma holding back his shoulder.

“Don’t rush in!” Azuma hollered, “That thing could kill you!”

Deckerd jerked back in response.

“That’s my son in there!” he exclaimed, attempting to rush back only to be met with a giant yellow robotic leg.

The Build Team casted dark shadows above them, only accentuating their now red optics.

Saejima stepped forward, “Build Team, stand down!”

No response. Not even an automated one. Instead, the three Braves grabbed a fire arm from their compartments and aimed right at the humans. Deckerd looked at their optics, then at the alien.

Of course, it took control of them. They were machines.

The Build Team readied their fingers at their triggers, when they were disarmed by three gunshots. Already putting his gun away, Yuuta strained in getting on his feet. Gritting his teeth, he readied himself into a fight position.

“Get… away… from my papa!”

Yuuta charged towards the Build Team, who reacted in kind. He ducked down, launching himself into an uppercut at the crane Brave. As the crane stumbled back, the power shovel delivered a blow to his stomach, sending him flying into the dump truck’s punch to the head and into the ground. Quickly as he could, Yuuta swept his leg under the crane’s, causing it to fall on its back. The dump truck attempted to strike Yuuta once again, but he quickly grabbed its arm. Groaning from the strain of its weight, he hefted it over his shoulder and right onto the crane.

Azuma couldn’t help but mutter under his breath, “So, that’s the power of a Super AI…”

In the midst of their battle, the alien’s energy started to gather various broken electronics. The mysterious force melded the devices together, assimilating into a metallic monstrosity and hovering over the little Brave with its demonic claws ready to rip him apart.

Yuuta turned to it, spitting out a relatively little tooth from his mouth and sneering.

“Bring. It. ON!”

 

Deckerd’s first instinct was to let Yuuta form J-Yuusha to even the odds, but a quick glance at his broken badge dismissed the idea. His next thought led his eyes to the metal sheet. With a single nod to affirm his plan, he looked to his superiors.

“We need to get the sheet over that thing ourselves.” Deckerd readied himself for the run. “If we start now, we can stop the attacks.”

“That thing is enormous, if you haven’t noticed,” Azuma interrupted, giving a stern look. “By the time we cover even half of it, BP – **Yuuta** – would be too injured to fight!”

“Well, that’s where we come it!”

The three policemen turned behind them, watching Deckerd’s neighbours step forward from the entrance, ready for action!

Saejima raised his hands a bit, “It’s too dangerous. Please stand back—”

“Now ain’t the time, moustache face!” Coach interrupted, wiping his nose, “We’re here to help the kid and Deckerd!”

Saejima jumped back a bit, shocked at being called “moustache face”.

“It would be wrong not to help them,” Mr. Mudra added, “especially after they have helped us.”

“I couldn’t help but overhear you needed the extra manpower, anyway,” Kashiwazaki further argued, fixing his hair and keeping a cool demeanor, “and we’re more than happy to offer.”

“After all, they’re our neighbours!” Mrs. Itohata rolled her shoulders with a smile on her face.

Deckerd couldn’t help but smile at this. Help had arrived just when they needed it most.

Azuma took a breath before looking to Saejima.

“If you’re done being shocked there, we might as well take their offer for now,” Azuma adjusted his glasses before looking to Coach, “But this is the only time we’ll let civilians help in these matters—”

“Let’s not waste time then, glasses! We got a kid to save!” Coach announced, already leading the charge of the neighbours.

Deckerd followed in suit, looking behind to see the commissioner following him (with a bit of a grin on his face) and the vice commissioner soon after (after a very similar shocked stupor). He took a glance at the battle nearby.

Despite Yuuta trying his best, he was still very outnumbered. Every blow he dodged and delivered was met with two more from either the Build Team or that robotic mess. He started stumbling with every stance, blocking, striking, and even firing at his adversaries. Still, every action was strained, not helped at all by the alien’s attempts to take control of him.

Deckerd pressed forward, increasing his pace and grabbing the sheet and leading the charge to the alien rock. The shadow of the crane Brave casted over them. Its hand reached out to the humans, ready to grab them and possibly crush them.

“Oh no, you don’t!”

Yuuta immediately body slammed the crane into a junk pile, pushing it down and blocking its punches.

“Papa, go!” he hollered not long before being whacked aside by the metal monstrosity.

Sliding across the ground, Yuuta stumbled, holding his head in his hand. His vision could make out the Build Team slowly getting up and trudging to the humans as the metal monster paced towards him. Junk started to pile onto one of its claws, forming a giant drill ready to pierce through Yuuta. Yuuta reached for his gun, but was met with a pang on his wrist joints. His gaze met the monster’s, widening in fear as the drill charged at his face.

Deckerd was so close. Every second, he quickened his pace, even when his feet felt like fire. He couldn’t stop now, not even with ominous shadows darkening their path. In the adrenaline of it all, he and the others let out a cry as they charged at the alien monster. Putting all their effort into it, they covered the vile beast in the metal sheet just as the shovel Brave was about to grab them.

The Build Team stood back, optics returning to their normal colour and returning to their original forms.

“All systems functional. Now awaiting orders.” Their monotone message returned and, for once, was met with relief.

Deckerd looked back at the metal monster. The thing didn’t move a servo, only an inch away from hitting the Brave Detective’s closed. Yuuta took a breath before getting up slowly and marching to his friends and father.

“I-is everyone okay?” he asked, holding his shoulder.

“We’re okay, Yuuta.” Deckerd sighed with a smile, patting Yuuta’s foot. “And you?”

He nodded, giving the group a thumbs-up.

“Thank you,” he said with a smile.

Coach gave a good chuckle before patting his leg.

“Don’t scare us like that again, you silly kid!” He wiped his nose once more and grinned.

Yuuta giggled, not noticing the monster’s antennae wriggling out of the sheet and sending a charge to its monstrous creation. At the sound of its systems whirring, Yuuta turned to the monster and raised his arms in an attempt to shield the group from the drill.

“Yuuta, don’t!” Deckerd screamed.

Saejima clenched his fists, striking into a dramatic pose while being met with Azuma’s jaded look of disbelief at the theatrics

“Build Team! Assist Yuuta!”

“Command Acknowledged.” The Build Team set themselves in a fight position and rammed the monster at full force, breaking it apart almost instantly.

Deckerd didn’t know whether to awe at their combined power or be mad it wasn’t used to help his son sooner. Nonetheless, relief washed over him as he quickly stomped on the alien’s antennae. No alien was going to hurt his child again.

Yuuta relaxed, turning his body to the group and rubbing the back of his neck.

“Sorry if I scared you,” Yuuta apologized, “I was just doing what I can to protect everyone.”

“Do not be like that!” Mr. Mudra interjected with a worried smile, “It is good that you want to protect people. Especially those you love.”

“Just don’t be so reckless next time, you silly kid!” Coach grinned to Yuuta.

Yuuta crossed his arms. “You shouldn’t be, either!” he wiped his nose with a grin. “It’s my job to help people with papa, you silly Coach!”

Coach was caught off guard before letting out a big belly laugh. “You got me there, kid!”

Azuma watched the group share a laugh, wiping the dust and grime off his glasses and adjusting them on his face. The corner of his eye caught his friend getting closer with a cocky grin on his face. The vice commissioner let out an annoyed huff, glancing at Saejima.

“I get it. You were right.” He rolled his eyes, dusting his sleeves. “I swear, if you start rubbing it in my face—”

“You know I’ll never let you live this down, right?” Saejima laughed, wrapping his arm around Azuma’s shoulders.

Azuma sighed once more. “I know. But if they end up like children, it’s your fault.”

___

After a day in the repair bay and a night’s rest, Yuuta and Deckerd met the commissioner at the Yuusha Room construction sight once more. The Build Team in their vehicular forms worked at the site. A notable difference this time around was Azuma’s absence.

“He said he was preparing something for an upcoming case of yours.” Saejima patted his shoulders and smiled. “I’m certain he’ll warm up to the Brave Police eventually.”

“Thank you, sir,” Deckerd replied, “but why’d you bring us back here?”

Saejima chuckled and look outwards. “Ladies, I think it’s time for a proper introduction!”

“Change!” The crane quickly transformed into her robotic form, standing straight and immediately going into a salute, “BP-301 Seia at your service!”

“Change!” The dump truck did a quick spin before changing to her robot mode, crossing her arms and leaning back on nothing in particular, “BP-303 Ayako, ready to roll!”

“Change!” The power shovel did a quick and elegant flip before landing gracefully on her feet, quickly going into a bow and smiling sweetly, “BP-302 Lua. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

These were clearly the same Braves from the day before, and yet they seemed like completely different people. Their differing poses and smiles were worlds away from the previous stiffness Deckerd associated them with. It was astounding how they were breathed life into in the matter of a single night. However, Deckerd couldn’t help but notice a small difference on their appearances; markings have been painted on their faces, from the bright red on Seia’s lips, to the darker crimson lining Ayako’s lash line, to the green tints at the corner of Lua’s optics.

“Why do they have makeup on?” Deckerd whispered, leaning into Saejima’s ear.

“They noticed one of Toudou’s assistants wearing makeup.” Saejima let out a chuckle. “It’s quite flattering on them, isn’t it?”

“Well yea! That’s why we wanted it!” Ayako shined a proud grin, her optics right at the two men.

Deckerd couldn’t help but chuckle, turning back to face Yuuta. What he found instead was Yuuta looking rather uneasy, stepping back and keeping his optics off the Build team.

Ayako cocked her head. “Something the matter, little guy?” she asked, walking towards him before Seia set a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“I think he’s still scared of us.” She gave the red Brave a stern yet calm glance. “Remember yesterday’s case file?”

Ayako mouthed an “ohh” before diverting her optics to the side. Yesterday’s impressions weren’t exactly ideal, despite the three not being quite alive as they were at the moment. Heck, if the files had any say of what went on, the little Brave probably thought they were going to attack him again.

Lua tapped her lip with her index finger, looking downward before perking up and walking towards Yuuta. In barely a second, yuuta attempted to hid behind his papa, still shaking slightly. Lua smiled softly, kneeling down and facing Yuuta at eye level.

“Hello, Yuuta,” she said, tilting her head slightly, “it’s very nice to meet you.”

Yuuta barely peeked at her before hiding once again behind Deckerd. Lua let out a soft sigh.

“I know yesterday wasn’t very happy, but we really do want to fix that.” Slowly as she can, she led her hand to his shoulder, feeling the little Brave shake less. “How about we play a game?”

That stopped Yuuta shaking, letting his head move up to get a good look at the taller Braves.

“A game?” he asked, slowly getting up.

Lua let out a nod, followed by Ayako stepping up with her own grin.

“Yea! Just don’t go easy on us just cuz we’re new!” Ayako rolled her shoulder, already ready to roll.

Seia rolled her eyes light-heartedly. “If you want, you can choose, too,” she offered.

Yuuta’s shock quickly changed to overwhelming joy. He shot up like a rocket and looked around, nodding as he confirmed having everything he needed.

“Okay!” he shouted with a grin, “We can play arm wrestling! I’ll show you!”

He started darting around, gathering several oil drums and metal sheets in record time with his boundless energy.

“This is gonna be exciting! My first game with my big sisters!” he giggled.

The ladies looked at each other with a questioning look, before shrugging with a smile and helping Yuuta out.

Deckerd smiled, leaning back on the fence. Saejima leaned back beside him, looking him in the eye.

“I trust you’ll take care of them, officer?” he inquired, being met with a nod from his subordinate.

“Of course, sir.” He set his gaze back to the Braves. The good thing was Yuuta wasn’t so alone anymore. Perhaps things would become more interesting with the new additions to the Brave Police family.

___

_Azuma tapped on his desk with his pencil, looking over the case file on his monitor. He furrowed his brow in aggravation. Why Juuzo would put the Braves in charge of this kind of mission is beyond him, especially with them being so new to the field._

_A knock interrupted his thoughts, causing him to stand up._

_“Door’s unlocked. Come in,” he commanded._

_The door opened and shut quickly, revealing a tall, dark man in dress shirt and a long curling braid on the side of his head entering the room._

_“Colonel McCrane Onoue of the Land Defense Forces, Captain of the Northeast Battalion, ninth Division, sir!” He stood in salute, right hand raised to his brow and feet together, gaze unwavering from the vice commissioner._

_Azuma crossed his arms, looking the colonel in the eye._

_“I have a task for you and your division."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Art once again by the lovely BloodLily16!


	5. Seia’s Debut! Awaken Gawan, The Man-Made Dinosaur!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seia, Yuuta, and Deckerd raid a bio-research lab, and find a gigantic monster. But when the JDSF takes control of the monster, things go horribly wrong! Can Seia, Yuuta, and the military take down Gawan and save Deckerd in the process?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter art courtesy of the awesome Psyche_Angel!

 

* * *

 

 

Yuuta jammed his brakes on, and his alt-mode screeched to a stop in front of the door to the manor. Deckerd leapt out, sidearm in hand, and Yuuta changed, running after him. As soon as he reached the door and caught up with Deckerd, Yuuta kicked it open. 

“Hold up!” shouted Yuuta, pulling out his badge and holding them out in front of him. “Brave Police Yuuta!”

“You’re under arrest for illegal bio-research!” Deckerd swept the room for signs of life, but found nothing. Slowly, he lowered his gun and badge. “Deserted.” 

“They left?” Yuuta holstered his revolver. “Aw….” He looked around the room. 

“It looks like we got a tip,” said Deckerd, “but they got one too.” He began to walk around the room. “It looks like they took most of the equipment with them too.” He paused and looked down at a beaker filled with pink liquid. Suddenly, the building began to shake, and the pink liquid started to ripple. 

A loud noise came from he other end of the room, and Deckerd whirled around and watched as the wall cracked and rumbled, until a crane burst through and drove into the room. Deckerd yelped and stumbled back as the crane stopped a scant meter in front of him. 

“Seia!” Deckerd grabbed at his chest, certain his heart was about to vibrate itself out of him with how hard it was beating. “Don’t scare me like that!” 

The crane split along seams in its body, and Seia transformed back into robot form. “My apologies, sir. I was hoping the scare the criminals, not you.” 

“Well, they’re gone now,” said Deckerd. “This place is completely empty.” 

“Actually…” Seia turned slightly and pointed in the direction she’d come from. “That’s not entirely true. I found something you’ll want to see.” 

 

***

 

Despite being in Aomori, the weather had been nice. So, when Seia opened the massive set of double doors, the wave of freezing air made Deckerd shiver. 

“What is this place?” Deckerd looked around, rubbing his arms to keep them from getting cold.

Yuuta walked in and looked around. There were several large glass cylinders in the room; stasis pods, used by bio-researchers to keep their creations out of the way. Most of them were empty, but Deckerd spotted one that had a large mass of something inside it. 

It was too dark to see, but Deckerd pulled out his flashlight and turned it on, illuminating something scaly and gigantic. 

“M-monster!” yelped Yuuta. 

“What on Earth—?” muttered Deckerd. The monster loomed silently in the stasis pod, sleeping away. Deckerd hoped that it would stay like that. 

 

***

 

Deckerd sighed and looked out the window. The scenery going by was beautiful, but it did nothing to distract him from the sleeping kaiju Seia was towing in front of them. Gawan, hadn’t the technicians called it? They’d kept it in the stasis pod, but a tarp had been tied over it to protect the glass. 

“Bored?” he asked Yuuta, putting down his manga. 

“I’m worried,” said Yuuta. “About Gawan running amok, I mean.” 

Deckerd sighed and patted Yuuta’s console. “I know how you feel. But we have Seia with us. She can help if anything goes wrong.” 

“How?” The computer imbedded in Yuuta’s console buzzed as he searched his databanks. 

“That’s because she’s a sniper,” said Deckerd. “She’s fast and agile, and her aim with that rifle of hers is almost never off.” 

“Bang bang zap?” asked Yuuta. 

Deckerd laughed. “Bang bang zap!” 

“Excuse me.” Seia’s voice came in through the comm. “Sir, there’s a block up ahead. We might be in for some trouble.” 

“What?” asked Deckerd. 

Yuuta drove to the side, peeking around Seia and Gawan. In front of them, completely blocking the road, was a line of people and vehicles.

“Tanks!” exclaimed Yuuta. 

Deckerd looked closer and realized that they were, in fact, tanks! He gulped. 

“Halt!” One of the people in the barricade, a large man in a military uniform, stepped out and raised his hand. 

Yuuta and Seia pulled to a stop in front of them. 

“Is Officer Tomonaga present?” he asked. 

Deckerd slowly stepped out of Yuuta. “That would be me.” 

The man snapped to attention and saluted. “Warrant Officer Takeuchi, sir! Pardon me for the summons.” He turned to look at another soldier. “Captain! Officer Tomonaga’s here.” 

The Captain turned around, snapped his heels together, and saluted. “Officer Tomonaga, I am Colonel McCrane Onoue of the Land Defense Forces, Captain of the Northeast Battalion, Ninth Division.” He was tall and athletic, with a stern face. He had dark skin, and his dark hair was cropped military-style, with the exception of a braid hanging down on his left side. Deckerd couldn’t help but feel like he looked familiar. McCrane dropped his hand. “Under Special Ordinance No. 304, we have come to take possession of the monster Gawan, and dispose of him.” 

Deckerd resisted the urge to take a step back, and saluted. “Officer Deckerd Tomonaga, Head of the Brave Police Division.” Yuuta saluted too, but used his left hand instead of his right. Seia quietly corrected him. McCrane stared Deckerd down with intensely green eyes, and Deckerd hoped that he wasn’t blushing. 

McCrane sighed and relaxed his posture. “Routine formalities, officer. Apologies for flustering you.” Deckerd groaned internally. McCrane looked less stern, but he still exuded an aura of professionalism. “We’ll go ahead and take Gawan off of your hands.” 

“What do you mean, ‘dispose of Gawan'?” asked Yuuta. 

“I have to wonder that myself,” said Seia. “Especially since we were ordered to transport him to a research facility, not to the military.” 

McCrane blinked in surprise and looked between Yuuta and Seia. “You must be the Brave Police I’ve heard so much about. Yuuta…” He pointed at Yuuta, “and Seia.” He pointed at Seia, then jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “I appreciate the situation you’re in, but the fact remains that the research facility’s in the middle of Tokyo.” 

Deckerd looked, and saw the skyline of Tokyo in the distance. 

“I’m sure that none of you—,” McCrane looked at Deckerd, Seia, and Yuuta in turn, “—want that monster rampaging this close to the city.” He crossed his arms. “As part of the Defense Force, we’re supposed to defend people from threats. And if I may say so, we’re d*mn good at it, and more experienced than you are. As a result, we’re going to take Gawan.” He cleared his throat. “Mr. Onoue!” 

A man with a boyish face and dark hair and eyes turned. 

“Take a tissue sample from Gawan!” ordered McCrane. “When that’s done, dispose of him!” 

Onoue ran by with several soldiers in tow. 

“Wait a second—,” Deckerd tried to run after them, but Takeuchi grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back. “Hey!” 

“Let my papa go!” shouted Yuuta.

“Stop that!” yelled Seia as the soldiers yanked the tarp off of the stasis pod. “That’s dangerous!”

Onoue turned to look back at her. “Don’t worry, miss. We’re used to doing this sort of thing.” He turned to one of the soldiers. “Cut a hole and retrieve skin samples!” 

“Yes sir!” The soldier opened a case and pulled out a device. He pressed it against the glass and activated and buzzed as it cut a hole through the glass in record time. He removed the device with a pop and crouch down as air whooshed into the vacuum-sealed pod. Gawan began to twitch. Spikes sprouted from its back, causing the glass of the tube to rattle. 

“What the—?” Onoue turned to look as Gawan’s skin turned from red-orange to dark grey. Brown, bony plates formed on its head and back, and it began to grow rapidly. Its yellow eyes shot open as it grew too big, and the glass holding it in exploded outward in all directions. 

Deckerd covered his face as glass shrapnel rained down on them, and Gawan lumbered up on its legs, towering above them all. It stepped on the truck bed they were transporting it on, and the truck bed tilted up into the air. 

Most of the men on the truck bed went flying off, but Onoue slid down facefirst and landed loudly on a pile of metal. 

Yuuta and Seia transformed as Gawan zeroed in on Onoue. Onoue scrambled to his feet and made a mad dash away. Seia reached out to grab him, but gawan opened his mouth, and a long tongue shot out and wrapped around him, pulling him away just as Seia snatched at Onoue. 

“D*mmit!” she shouted. Onoue cried out as Gawan pulled him back into his mouth and swallowed him whole. 

Behind Deckerd, McCrane cried out in horror. 

“I-it _ate_ him?” Yuuta’s optics began to well up with tears. 

Gawan roared and laid down, curling up into a ball and quickly falling asleep. 

“Of all the things—,” Takeuchi gulped. “It _had_ to be hungry.” 

Seia crouched over. Her optics glowed bright blue as she studied the creature. “Sir,” she whispered. 

“Yes?” asked Deckerd. 

“It’s still growing,” she said. “It’s growing slowly, but growing nonetheless.” 

“ _Perfect,_ ” spat McCrane. 

“If we’re going to extract Mr. Onoue,” continued Seia, “it’s best we do it now.” 

“How?” asked Takeuchi. 

Yuuta raised his hand. “I have an idea.” 

 

***

 

“Are you out of your f*cking mind?” shouted McCrane. 

“Sir!” Takeuchi pointed at Yuuta. 

McCrane grumbled something under his breath. “Going into Gawan’s body to retrieve the victim is an insane plan!” 

Deckerd finished sealing the suit and turned to face McCrane. “I’ll be protected from whatever’s in Gawan’s stomach. If I work quickly, I’ll be finished before he wakes up.” 

“Still…” McCrane shook his head. 

“Could you me a favor?” asked Deckerd. He pulled out his badge and put it in McCrane’s hand. “Hold on to this. If I lose it, there’ll be a reckoning.” McCrane looked down at the badge, and then back up again. 

“Well, then.” Deckerd picked up a silver briefcase and turned around to face Gawan. “I’ll see you soon.” 

McCrane said nothing as Deckerd walked over to Gawan. Even asleep, the monster was imposing. Yuuta shuddered has he parted Gawan’s lips and grabbed his mouth, opening it so Deckerd could walk through. Rows of glistening, six-inch teeth greeted Deckerd, and he shuddered. 

“Papa?” asked Yuuta. “Are you okay?”

Deckerd swallowed and forced a smile. “Of course.” He lifted up his left arm and showed him a small device on a thin chain around his neck. “With this, you’ll be able to know where I am, so you can make sure everything’s okay. And when I give the signal, Seia will fire the ventilator shell, and we’ll be out.” 

“Okay,” said Yuuta. 

“Careful,” said Seia. 

“I will be,” said Deckerd. He pulled the helmet over his head and crawled into Gawan’s mouth. His tongue was slick with goo, and Deckerd had barely taken two steps before his feet slid out from under him and he faceplanted. 

“I meant ‘careful’ as in ‘careful where you step’,” said Seia. 

“Ah.” Deckerd picked himself up, exceedingly glad that no-one could see him blush through the helmet. “Thank you, Seia.” 

He crawled up, and pushed himself down Gawan’s throat. 

 

***

 

“That was certainly something,” said McCrane. Seia and Yuuta gently closed Gawan’s mouth and stepped back. Yuuta looked around, and wiped his hands off in the grassy area, making a disgusted facial expression in the meanwhile. 

“That Officer Tomonaga certainly is an interesting character,” said Takeuchi. “I wonder why the Commissioner put him in charge of something as important as the Brave Police. I would have expected someone with more experience. A sergeant, at least.” 

“Hm.” McCrane watched as Seia folded up the tarp while Yuuta began to pace. “if we play up the strength of the military, I wonder if we could get them on our side.” He glanced back behind him, at a blue mecha with tank turrets. “The SP units are good for what we do, but the Yuuta-Type units have the Super AI, which means that they have better performance in certain areas than the SP units.” 

“I could buy that we might be able to convince the sniper,” said Takeuchi. “But I think that the kid might be a harder sell. Did you hear him call Tomonaga ‘Papa’?” 

“Right.” McCrane sighed. “But, he is a kid.” 

“Still,” Takeuchi turned to look back at the SP unit, “this will be a good opportunity to test out the SP units.” 

McCrane nodded. He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by a shout from the radio tent. 

“Captain!” 

McCrane and Takeuchi ran over to the radio tent. 

“Officer Tomonaga’s signal is weakening!” The technician held a hand to his headphones and he stared down at the monitor. Suddenly, he gasped and looked up. “He’s gone! Gawan could have digested him already!” 

“No!” 

Everyone turned to look as Yuuta and Seia knelt behind them, trying to look into the tent. 

“There must be a mistake!” Yuuta’s optics began to tear up. “Papa’s got to be okay!” 

“That sort of thing can’t just happen to him!” said Seia. 

“Don’t crowd us!” shouted Takeuchi.

Seia shot him a glare while Yuuta turned to look back at Gawan. 

“Papa?” he whispered. 

 

***

 

Deckerd took deep breaths to calm himself down as he dragged Onoue out of the pit of digestive juices. He’d been leaning over the pit, when something had reached out and grabbed the tracker. The chain had snapped, and the tracker had been pulled under. Deckerd had grabbed for it, and taken a hold of Onoue instead. 

Onoue was alive, but only barely. The tracker was in his hand, but the stomach acid had ruined it. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Deckerd smacked it against his hand. Nothing happened. “A tracker designed for being inside a biomonster, and it breaks almost immediately?” He groaned and sat down. 

Onoue started to cough. 

Deckerd put the tracker to the side and leaned over him. “Onoue! Are you okay?”

“H-help…” he coughed. “Help… please… aniki…?” 

Deckerd shook his head. “Aniki?”

 

***

 

“Even if he is still alive, how do you think you’re going to get him out?” shouted McCrane. 

Seia took a deep breath and turned to face him. “With this.” She put something that looked like a drill bit on the end of her rifle. “The ventilator shell. Mr. Onoue and the Boss can use it as a tunnel to get out of Gawan.” 

The technician from earlier ran out of the tent, with a piece of paper in hand. “Here!” 

Seia knelt down and took it from him. “Thank you.” She picked it up and studied it. 

The technician cleared his throat. “The white pip represents where the signal came from before it started to fade, and the red is where he was before the tracker cut out completely.” 

“Got it.” Seia put the paper away and aimed her rifle. McCrane covered his ears, and less and a second later, Seia fired her gun. 

The shell flew through the air, striking Gawan perfectly… and shattering against his side. 

“It broke?” yelped Yuuta. 

“That skin of his is tougher than I thought!” 

“But then how are we going to get Papa out of Gawan?” 

“Forget it!” snapped McCrane. He turned away and pulled out a radio. “We’ll go with Plan A!” He shouted. “All men, battle positions, now!” 

The soldiers sprang into action and ran toward the tanks and helicopters. 

“What’s Plan A?” asked Yuuta. 

“They’re going to kill Gawan,” said Seia. Helicopters took off and hovered around them. 

“Attack!” shouted McCrane. 

“NO!” screamed Yuuta. 

The helicopters flew at Gawan before Yuuta or Seia could react, and launched a barrage of missiles at him. They hit him hard, and the explosions created a wind that sent leaves and dust flying. 

Gawan opened its eyes and reared up. It roared, unscathed by the attacks, and swatted a helicopter out of the air, throwing it to the ground with enough force that it crumpled like tinfoil against the road. 

The other helicopters kept firing, but Gawan swatted them down like they were flies. Even when Gawan stepped on a helicopter and it exploded, Gawan took no damage. 

“They’re completely ineffective?” yelped Takeuchi. 

“Forget that!” McCrane pointed as Gawan plodded away. “It’s heading toward the city!” He pulled up his radio. “All units, destroy Gawan before he gets to the city, at any and all cost!” 

The soldiers ran past, accompanied by their tanks and mecha, while Seia and Yuuta watched. 

“Papa…” murmured Yuuta. 

 

***

 

Deckerd braced himself as another tremor hit Gawan. “Do you have the suit on yet?”

Onoue pulled the helmet on and took a deep breath. “Thank you.” 

Gawan shook again.

“What’s going on?” asked Deckerd. 

“They’re attacking,” said Onoue. 

“McCrane?” yelped Deckerd. “Already? It’s only been ten minutes!”

Another tremor rocked them, and it was all Deckerd could do to hang on. 

 

***

Gawan loomed over the treeline as he lumbered toward the city. McCrane took a deep breath and put his radio up to his mouth. “All units, attack Gawan!” 

He put the radio down with a bang as the tanks whirred to life, taking careful aim. 

“Stop!” A shape blotted out the sun, and Yuuta landed in front of them, his arms outstretched as he stared them down. “Don’t shoot!” 

“What the f—,” McCrane stopped himself and grimaced. “What’s wrong with you, Yuuta? You’re supposed to be a police officer! Stand aside, now!” 

“My papa’s in there!” cried Yuuta. “If you kill Gawan, then he’ll die too!” 

“That’s nothing compared to what will happen if that thing reaches the city!” shouted McCrane. “Stand down!” 

“No!” 

“Don’t act like a brat!” McCrane stood up and pulled a shotgun from the truck, pointing it at Yuuta. “Out of the way!” 

“Make me!” screamed Yuuta. 

“You—,” 

“Listen!” Behind McCrane, Takeuchi grabbed the mounted machine gun and aimed at Yuuta. “You’re just a kid, so I’ll cut you some slack! But you need to get out of the way, now!” 

“No!” 

McCrane ducked down as Takeuchi leaned forward and fired at Yuuta. Yuuta dodged, running to the side, and then he jumped high into the air. 

“What the—,” 

Yuuta yelled and he prepared to attack, but a hand reached out of nowhere and grabbed him by the wrist. 

“What do you think you’re doing, Yuuta?” asked Seia. Her voice was cool and calm. “This isn’t how a policeman should act.” 

“They’re going to let Papa die!” screamed Yuuta. 

“And how would he react if he could see you now?” asked Seia. 

Yuuta thought for a second, and then bowed his head. “He’d be mad at me.” 

Seia nodded and set Yuuta down. “The use of force isn’t going to solve anything right now.” She glanced at McCrane and Takeuchi. “Am I right?” 

McCrane and Takeuchi exchanged glances. 

“I suppose you’re right,” said McCrane. 

“Mm.” Takeuchi shrugged. 

“We just need to make a plan,” said Seia. “And then we can end this quickly.” 

 

***

 

“What is the plan?” asked McCrane. He stood on a rock outcropping next to Seia as they, along with Yuuta, watched Gawan march through the forest. 

“The same plan as before, essentially.” Seia looked off into the distance. “We’ll save our boss, and your man. All we need from your end is ten minutes.” 

“You’re still trying to get them out?” McCrane scoffed. “They’re probably dead by now.” He bowed his head. “Unfortunately.” 

Seia glanced at him. “Worried about your brother?”

McCrane looked back up at her. “How did you know?”

“I was curious,” said Seia. “You have the same surname.” She turned to face him. “Though I am curious. Why are you letting him die?” 

“I am _not_ —!” Seia jumped, and McCrane realized he’d been shouting. He sighed. “I’m not letting him die. But I can’t give him special treatment because he’s my brother.” He looked away. “Besides. He’s probably dead by now.” 

“Don’t give up on him yet,” said Seia. “There’s still hope. Maybe it’s only a little bit, but it’s enough for him.” She pointed at Yuuta. “Neither of us are human, but even I’ve been around long enough to learn that life is all about hope.” She cocked her head and looked at him. “Or am I wrong?”

“I don’t want him to be dead!” McCrane glared at Seia. “But destroying Gawan is my responsibility, as captain! Every last soldier under my command is someone’s sibling, or someone’s child, or someone’s parent, and the same applies for the people in Tokyo!” He pointed at the city in the distance. “What right do I have to show favoritism, when people could suffer because of it?” He let his hand drop to the side and hung his head. 

“I see.” Seia looked away. “Humans are complicated, huh?” 

“You said ten minutes?” 

Seia looked at McCrane. 

He looked up at her, meeting his gaze. “I’ll give you ten minutes, but that’s it. After that, we’ll continue attacking Gawan.” 

A slow smile crept across Seia’s face. “Thank you, Captain. You won’t regret it.” 

 

***

 

McCrane checked his watch, his other hand resting on his shot gun. It might’ve been useless in this situation, but feeling its smooth weight made him feel slightly less apprehensive about what was to come. He looked back up as Gawan’s thundering steps drew closer. Seia stood on the bridge, facing him down. He didn’t see any emotion on her face. Just purpose. 

_After observing Gawan_ , Seia had said, _I noticed that he changed form based on his environment. He was vacuum-sealed in the stasis pod, and when he was exposed to air, his skin toughened and he grew in size. If he’s exposed to another environment and grows, he’ll have to soften his skin in order to grow. Therefore, we must force him into a new environment._

McCrane looked down at the water running under the bridge. _Like a marine environment_ , she’d said. 

Gawan was in the middle of the bridge now. 

“Now!” shouted Seia. She charged forward and grabbed Gawan by the leg. “Yuuta, hurry!” 

“Got it!” Below her, Yuuta grabbed one of the supports and started to pull on it. He strained against the massive pillar, and above him Seia strained as Gawan slammed its arms against her. Seia grunted, but held firm. 

Yuuta backpedalled and charged at the support, ramming it with all the force he could muster. It didn’t budge. 

Gawan pushed against Seia, and Seia began to slide back. She growled and pushed back, but slowly but surely, Gawan was making headway. 

“It’s not working,” said Takeuchi. “Sir, we have to act now! Any closer, and the city will be in danger!” 

“Their time’s not up,” said McCrane. 

“If we don’t do something—,” 

“I gave Seia my word that we’d wait ten minutes,” said McCrane. “And I’m a man of my word.” 

Gawan kicked Seia back. He opened his mouth, and his tongue shot out and wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her body and squeezing down tight. Sparks flew, and Seia cried out in pain. 

“Nee-chan!” Yuuta charged the support, yelling, but he bounced off of the pillar. The force sent him flying back, but something —or someone— caught him in the nick of time. 

“Easy, Yuuta.” Lua helped steady him. 

“Lua?” gasped Yuuta. “You’re here?”

“Ayako and I thought you could use the help,” said Lua. 

“Oi, Gawan!” Above them, a red blur sprang into air. “Say hello to 500 tonnes of F*CK! YOU!” As Lua gasped below her, Ayako landed a perfect dropkick on the top of Gawan’s head and bounced back off, landing behind Seia. Gawan roared and retracted his tongue, leaving Seia standing. 

“Ayako?” She turned to look at her rescuer, trembling from some unseen damage. 

“The Commissioner ordered us to come,” said Ayako. “We heard about Boss. How can we help?” 

“Help me hold Gawan back!” shouted Seia. She ran back toward Gawan. Ayako ran after her, and below them Lua and Yuuta began to wear down the support. 

McCrane’s watch timer beeped. He pulled back his sleeve to look. 

“The ten minutes are up.” Takeuchi eyed the watch. “What do we do?”

McCrane turned to look at Gawan, then at Seia and Ayako, and then at Lua and Yuuta, who were still attacking the support. 

He thought of Seia, asking about Makoto. He thought of Yuuta, ready to stand in front of an army for the sake of his father. And he thought of Seia again, asking him if he was willing to let his brother die. 

McCrane tightened his grip on his shotgun. “Warrant Officer, engage the SP units.” 

“Yes sir,” said Takeuchi, reaching for his radio. “By the time we’re done, gawan will be nothing more than a fine, pink mist.” 

“Not for Gawan,” said McCrane. “Help the Brave Police take down the bridge.” 

“Seriously?” yelped Takeuchi. “I, um, I mean, sir?” 

“You heard me.” McCrane put his shotgun back in the holder. “We’re getting them out of there.” 

Takeuchi stared at him for a long moment, then chuckled. “I was wondering when you’d give in.” He saluted. “Sir, yes, sir!” He activated his radio and began yelling orders. 

As McCrane watched, the SP units roared to life and raced toward the bridge. 

“You under the bridge!” Takeuchi turned on the loudspeakers on the SP units. “Leave it to us, and stand aside!” 

“O-oh.” Lua took a step back. “Very well, then. Thank you!” She turned to Yuuta. “Let’s give them some space.” 

As she hurried off, Yuuta turned back and waved. “Thank you, Colonel McCrane!” McCrane waved back a little as he turned and ran after Lua. 

“SP units in position, sir!” said Takeuchi. 

McCrane stood up. “Fire!” 

The SP units opened fire with their turrets, sending round after round into the concrete supports. They shattered under the fire, and the bridge crumpled and broke. 

Seia and Ayako jumped away, and Gawan tumbled into the river. Immediately, the gray and brown faded back into the red-orange as Gawan began to change shape. Seia ran over to the edge of the bridge and fired a ventilator round into Gawan’s belly as Gawan sprouted fins. 

Yuuta broke away from Lua and ran to Gawan. The ventilator’s cap opened, and a man in an orange suit was pushed out, followed by another, larger man. 

“That was a tight fit,” panted Deckerd. Yuuta grabbed them both and ran back to the shore. 

“It worked?” McCrane jumped down to the ground and ran over to Yuuta. 

Yuuta nodded and set them down on the shore. “They’re safe now! Thank for helping—,” he was cut off as the river erupted. 

 

***

 

Gawan, now a massive plesiosaur, roared as it emerged from the water. Its skin was sickly green, and its massive ins were covered in spines, and a thick tail disappeared into the water. 

Seia ran up behind Yuuta and readied her rifle. 

“Goodness!” Lua ran up to Yuuta, followed by Ayako. “We’ve made a mess, now haven’t we?”

Deckerd tore off his suit and ran to McCrane. “Captain, my badge!” 

McCrane rummaged through his pockets and pulled out the badge. “Here you go.” 

Deckerd took it and turned around. “Yuuta! Get ready to combine!”

Yuuta turned and nodded. “Ready!” 

Deckerd took the badge and posed. “Brave up! J-Yuusha!” 

Behind him, J-Roader flew in the air, and Yuuta flew up to meet it, and they combined. 

“Get him!” shouted Deckerd. 

J-Yuusha landed heavily in the water, but he and the Build Team darted off immediately. 

“Don’t worry girls!” shouted Ayako. “This one’s all mine!” She pulled out her club and twirled it through the air, bringing it down with a _thwack_ on Gawan’s head. Gawan roared and glared up at her. 

“D*mmit!” Ayako jumped back, but Gawan was faster than she was, and it grabbed her in its both, biting down. Ayako screamed in pain as its razor-sharp rows of teeth tore through her armor. 

“Ayako!” cried Lua, pulling out her Bo Staff. 

Seia pulled out her rifle and fired shot after shot at anything that looked like a weak point, but nothing stuck. 

“I’ll save her!” J-Yuusha flew forward and kicked Gawan in the head. Gawan’s head went back, but its massive tail emerged from the water and hit J-Yuusha. J-Yuusha flew like a game-winning baseball, crashing through what remained of the bridge and splashing to a stop in the river. 

“J-Yuusha!” Lua moved forward, but Seia stopped her. 

“Rushing in didn’t work for Ayako,” she said, her optics glowing. She pushed her targeting systems harder, searching for a weakness. Something. Anything…

Something beeped. 

The ventilator! Seia focused in on it. It was still open, and it was a clean shot into Gawan. Seia pulled the regular rounds out of her rifle and checked her item log, looking for just the right round. An explosive round caught her eye, and she traded the clips out. The explosive clip fit neatly into her rifle. 

_Not that I’ll need more than one_ , she thought. She took a step back, one foot landing on dry ground. 

“Hey!” McCrane ran up to her, holding a scope in one hand. “Need a spotter?” 

“Thanks,” said Seia, “but I’m my own spotter.” Her targeting systems whirred into overtime, until finally she had the shot. Seia pulled the trigger, neatly absorbing the kickback. the explosive bullet sliced through the air and went inside the ventilator shell. 

A second later, the bullet exploded. 

Gawan roared, dropping Ayako. J-Yuusha flew up from the water and grabbed her, carting her off to a safe distance as Gawan exploded. 

Deckerd took a step back and watched as smoke floated up into the sky. 

 

***

 

 

“As you can see,” Azuma said, pacing around the room, “Officer Tomonaga impeded the biomonster disposal procedures, staged a rescue mission that resulted in the destruction of an entire bridge, and as a result, the monster almost went on a rampage through the city!” He slammed his hands on the desk and glared at Deckerd. “How do you plan on taking responsibility for all this?” The suited officials around the room nodded in agreement, and Deckerd felt very small on his side of the table. 

“Sir,” he said, trying not to sound as nervous as he felt, “with all due respect, that—,” 

“Azuma, please be reasonable,” said Saejima. “No-one was hurt.” 

“People could very easily have _died_ if Gawan—,” Azuma was cut off by the sound of a door opening. 

“Excuse me.” 

Azuma whirled around. “This is a private meeting, what are you…” He stopped in his tracks as he realized who he was speaking to. 

“Colonel McCrane Onoue of the Land Defense Forces, Captain of the Northeast Battalion, Ninth Division, sir!” McCrane saluted Azuma. he was wearing a dress-uniform was was tailored to fit him very nicely. 

“Colonel Onoue?” Deckerd blinked and shook his head, unsure if he was hallucinating or not. 

“The Ninth Division has come to take responsibility for the destruction of the bridge,” said McCrane, dropping the salute. “Since it was our fault that Gawan was released.” He paced around the table, then turned and faced the room, his back to the long window to the outside. “If you wish to punish Officer Tomonaga, then it’s only fair that the same punishment be given to me, and to all the soldiers under my command.” He saluted, as did the soldiers lined up outside the window. 

Azuma looked out the window and gasped. The officials crowded around the window and gasped in astonishment. 

“Look at all those men,” said one. “Amazing how they’re all mobilized.” 

“Well we certainly can’t do anything now,” said another. “Think of the outrage.” 

“And according to the reports, Officer Tomonaga wasn’t informed of the transfer when the JDSF came to take possession,” said another. “His reactions seemed understandable.” 

Deckerd stared out the window, relief hitting him like a punch to the gut. He turned to look at McCrane. McCrane winked at him and made finger guns while Azuma stared out the window. 

 

***

 

“Thank you again, Colonel.” Deckerd’s heart was still racing. “I think you might’ve saved us from the Vice-Commissioner’s wrath.” 

McCrane chuckled. 

“Papa!” Yuuta ran up to them. “I heard from the Commissioner that Mr. McCrane helped us not get punished!” 

“He did,” said Deckerd.

Yuuta turned to face McCrane and bowed. “Thank you very much for helping my sisters and my Papa and me.” 

“N-no trouble at all,” said McCrane. He bowed back. “Just don’t go blowing up anymore bridges, okay?”

Makoto watched, then hung his head. 

“I’m afraid I failed to accomplish my task,” he said. “My apologies, Captain.” 

McCrane shot him and a look and walked up in front of Makoto. “Private Makoto Onoue, put a sock in it!” 

Makoto yelped and stood at attention, and Deckerd and Yuuta had to resist the urge to do the same. 

“I have two things to say to you!” said McCrane. “First off, nobody’s perfect! Don’t be sorry, don’t do it again! Learn from your mistakes! And secondly…” McCrane trailed off and coughed into his hand. “You know you can still call me big brother from time to time, right Makoto?”

Makoto’s face slowly broke into a grin. “Okay then, aniki.” 

McCrane saluted Makoto. Makoto saluted him back, and they only managed to last a second before they burst out laughing. 

Deckerd felt a slow smile creep across his face. 

“Well then.” McCrane turned to face Deckerd. “I suppose that means I’m getting more human.” 

Deckerd cocked his head. “I don’t understand.” 

“Tell Seia,” said McCrane. “She’ll know what I mean.” 

Yuuta giggled and pointed behind McCrane. 

Deckerd followed his gaze and grinned. “Why don’t you tell her yourself?” 

McCrane looked confused. “What?”

“Change!” Seia transformed and landed deftly behind McCrane. “Boss. Yuuta.” 

McCrane whirled around. “Seia! You’re here?” 

Seia smiled and nodded. “Yuuta wanted to thank you, and I thought it would be a good idea. My sisters would have come, but we’re still swamped with paperwork, so I’ll thank you for the three of us.” She bowed. “Thank you very much, Colonel Onoue. If it weren’t for your assistance, we would have lost Deckerd, and we would have been severely punished.” 

“N-no thanks is necessary,” said McCrane, waving his hands in front of him. “I should be thanking you, for…” He looked away and cleared his throat. “For reminding me not to give up hope.” 

Seia tilted her head. “No trouble at all.” 

McCrane nodded and looked at Makoto. “Wipe that stupid smirk off of your face, Makoto.” 

“Yes, aniki,” said Makoto, still smiling as he looked from Seia, to McCrane, and back again. 

McCrane rolled his eyes, and Deckerd felt that same sense of familiarity. 

“Excuse me,” he said. “Have we met before this?”

“Huh?” McCrane squinted at him. “You’re a distinctive person, Officer. I’m sure that I’d remember you.” 

“Something about your face is awfully familiar,” said Deckerd. 

Makoto snorted. “That sounded like the first half of a pick-up line.” 

“Papa!” Yuuta stared reproachfully at Deckerd. “Are you going to get all mushy with Mr. McCrane?” 

McCrane raised an eyebrow and looked at Deckerd. 

“No, no!” Deckerd’s face flushed bright red and he waved his hands in the air, shaking his head frantically. “That’s not it at all, I swear! It’s been bothering me ever since we met, and normally I’m good at remembering faces, but I’ve been drawing a blank on why you look familiar to me! That’s all, I swear!” 

McCrane snickered. “How about we go and talk about this over lunch? Our father owns a curry shop in town, and I’ve been meaning to catch up with him, since we’re in the area. I’ll treat.” 

“That sounds nice,” said Deckerd. “I was actually thinking about having some curry for lunch. One of my neighbors actually owns a curry shop, and my sister regularly trades recipes with him.” 

“Oh really?” asked Makoto. “We might have to check it out later.” 

“I doubt whatever your neighbor makes can beat our father’s cooking,” said McCrane. 

“I would have been disappointed if you hadn’t said that,” chuckled Deckerd. “At any rate, how about I call us a ride?” 

 

***

 

There was something familiar about the street they were on. Deckerd thought he recognized some of the landmarks, but going this direction while driving messed with his internal map. 

“Is everything okay?” asked Makoto. He was crammed into the passenger seat next to Deckerd. There hadn’t been enough room for McCrane, so Seia had offered to drive him. 

“It’s fine,” said Deckerd. 

“Papa and my aunties come down here a lot,” said Yuuta. “But it’s kind of weird, because there’s only one curry shop here, and that’s—,” 

“What the—,” Seia screeched to a stop, almost causing an accident, as McCrane flung open the passenger door and jumped onto the sidewalk, taking off at a sprint down the road.

“G*dd*mmit!” Makoto unbuckled himself and opened the door. “Not again!” Makoto ran after him. Deckerd climbed out of Yuuta and jumped over Yuuta’s front, neatly landing on the sidewalk and running after Makoto and McCrane. 

“Papa!” Yuuta transformed and tried to run after them, but McCrane grabbed the doorframe of a restaurant and flung himself inside, and Makoto and Deckerd ran in after him. Deckerd was immediately hit with a familiar mix of scents and sounds. McCrane barged in through the double doors to the kitchen, almost running over a waitress, and slid to a stop, gasping for breath. 

Makoto and Deckerd followed him in, just as he started yelling. 

“You were going to put the peppers in before the meat, dad!” shouted McCrane at a laughing, familiar face. “G*dd*mmit! Every time I visit, you always do this!” 

“Sorry, McCrane,” said Mr. Mudra. “But how else can I get you to visit me?”

“Dad?” asked Deckerd numbly. 

“I was already going to visit you!” shouted McCrane. “I was about to take Makoto and Officer Tomonaga here to eat, when suddenly you have to put the veggies in before the meat! I learned not to do that by the time I was _ten_!” He pointed at Makoto and Deckerd. 

Mr. Mudra shook his head and stared at Deckerd. “Deckerd?” 

“ _Dad_?” asked Deckerd, staring at Mr. Mudra. “You’re their _Dad_? You’re _a_ Dad?” 

“Wait a second.” asked Makoto, looking back and forth. “Dad, how did you know his first name?” 

“How do you know our dad??” asked McCrane, staring at Deckerd in shock. 

“Papa?” Yuuta and Seia peeked in through a window in the kitchen. “What’s going on?” He noticed Mr. Mudra and waved. “Oh, hi Mr. Mudra!” 

Mr. Mudra chuckled and waved back. “Hello, Yuuta.” 

“You know _them_?” asked McCrane.

“Only Yuuta, honestly,” said Mr. Mudra. “I haven’t personally met Seia.” 

When they were standing next to each other, Deckerd could see that McCrane and Mr. Mudra looked eerily similar, down to the way Mr. Mudra’s eyes twinkled as he realized what was going on. 

“Well,” said Deckerd weakly. “You know how I mentioned that curry place I liked?” 

Makoto stared at him, eyes wide as dinner plates. “Oh my G*d.” 

“The one that was run by my neighbor?” 

Mr. Mudra covered his mouth and started laughing as McCrane stared at Deckerd in utter disbelief. 

“You’ve _got_ to be sh*tting me,” said McCrane. 

Makoto started to laugh. 

“How the _f*ck_ did you not know he had kids?” shouted McCrane. 

“I never _saw_ any kids!” shouted Deckerd. “Where _were_ you?”

“B-boarding school!” spluttered Makoto. “Because Mom and Dad moved around so much, and Mom got a discount because it was a military academy!” 

“And then!” Mr. Mudra gasped out, “M-Mariko got a job close by for a long time, so I opened up the curry shop to keep busy!” 

“But I thought your name was Mr. Mudra!” said Yuuta, looking very confused. 

“It is!” gasped Mr. Mudra. “Mudra Onoue! I t-took my wife’s name!” 

“And he hates being called Mr. Onoue because it makes him feel old!” laughed Makoto. 

Deckerd covered his face with his hands. “Oh my _G*d_. I can’t _believe_ I didn’t know you had _kids_.” 

“This is insane!” said McCrane. 

Mr. Mudra nodded, propping himself up against the counter as he laughed. 

McCrane bit back a chuckle. 

Deckerd snorted. 

They exchanged a look and laughed. 

Yuuta recoiled with surprise and looked at Seia. “Nee-chan, why are they laughing?” 

Seia looked in through the window at McCrane. “Because they’re being a little more human.” 

“O-okay.” Yuuta blinked and turned to look back in. 

McCrane leaned against the wall to keep from falling over from laughing too hard. Seia smiled. 

 

***

 

_A stocky man with red hair and freckles watched the news at his desk, watching what was easily the tenth replay of Gawan’s death. He sighed and leaned back in his chair._

_His email dinged, and he opened it quickly, hoping it was the one he was waiting for._

_‘_ If you can get the material for it, we’d be more than happy to publish your book on the Brave Police. Your work for the paper’s excellent, and a book by Dumpson Kimizuka would be a welcome addition to our publishing house.’


	6. Ayako's Debut! Beware of Trends!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Famed reporter, Dumpson Kimizuka, plans to do a book on our favourite dynamic duo. But he also caught the attention of Ayako, who won't leave him alone. Not only that, but strange fads have started to take over the minds of the citizens of Nanamagari! Even Deckerd’s! Will our heroes be able to stop these garish trends from controlling the populace?

In her two or so weeks of being alive, Ayako considered the giant Godzilla-like thing (Gawan or whatever) to be the only notable thing that’s happened to her on duty. Other than that, her days were made up of building the Yuusha Room and going on routine patrols.

And patrols couldn’t have gone any slower.

It was driving her Super AI crazy! She already missed taking out large enemies and fighting alongside her siblings. The adrenaline rush. The excitement! That satisfaction of when she struck down something with 500 metric tons of “F*CK YOU!”! It all made her groan with longing as she stopped at a red light. The monotony of routine was making her long for something new. Something exciting. Something other than another long and boring drive to HQ!

“No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!!”

Her headlights shifted to the source of the yelling. A tall, burly man with tan skin was charging his way across the street at top speeds! She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but something about the guy caught her attention. His brilliant green eyes? His fiery red hair? Those cute freckles sprinkled on his face coinciding with his very frantic expression? She decided it was a combination of all three and more.

The man reached the end of the street with plenty of time to spare from the cross walk. Leaning his hands on his knees and panting, he took his phone out and groaned at the screen.

“How am I going to make it on time?” he shook his head, taking a deep breath and standing straight. “Maybe I should call the commissioner and tell him I’ll be late—,”

Immediately, Ayako’s thoughts shifted to one thing: _Well hello, something new and exciting_.

“You’re heading to the police station?” her voice startled the man, causing him to jump back in response.

He turned around, staring at the dump truck and trying to find the source of the voice. He cocked his brow in confusion, looking for either someone or something at the driver’s seat. He took a breath and nodded.

“Yes, I am,” he replied in hesitance, “And you are?”

“BP-303 Ayako, at your service!” She opened her car door. “I can take you to HQ if you’re in a hurry!”

The man blinked. Wasn’t every day you met a talking car offering you a ride, let alone one that claimed to be part of the Brave police. He scarcely considered her offer before Ayako already decided for him and grabbed him with her arm, already placing him in the driver’s seat.

“What the heck?” he cried confused and annoyed at the situation.

“Well, you said you were going to be late!” Ayako shifted her arm back into her vehicle form, already started revving her engine and headlights glancing at the traffic light. “Besides, don’t wanna start a traffic jam!”

At the very second the light turned green, she charged right into the street, swerving past every car ahead of her! The man clung to her seat as she let out an excited laugh!

He, however, was screaming his lungs out and trying desperately to put his seatbelt on.

___

Yuuta started tapping his foot with his fists at his hips, looking at the garage with a pout.

“When’s Ayako nee-chan gonna get here?” he whined, prompting Lua to put her hands on his shoulders to help him be still.

“I’m sure she’ll be here on time,” she answered, glancing down at Deckerd and Commissioner Saejima, “Though I must ask, sirs. Who else are we waiting for?”

Before Deckerd could ask the same question, Saejima snapped his fingers and pointed a finger gun to Lua.

“That’s a surprise,” he said with a grin, “You’re all in for a special trea—,”

“GANGWAY, EVERYONE!”

Everyone in the garage darted their attention to the red dump truck charging her way to the garage. In less than a second, Ayako ran into a screeching halt, skidding her tires to barely reach within an inch of Deckerd’s hat. Opening her doors, the red-haired man stumbled out in a stupor, hair toss around like a salad and eyes crossed in nausea.

Lua shot a stern look at her sister, “Ayako, what did you do to this poor man?”

“He needed a ride here!” Ayako quickly changed into her robotic form, standing tall and proud with a cheeky grin. “Didn’t wanna be late, so I drove here as fast as I could!”

Seia shook her head. “You at least stayed within the speed limit, right?”

Her red-cladded sister only grinned. Seia gave her a light whack upside the head in return, with Lua stepping between them before a fight could break out.

“Girls, let’s not set a bad example,” Lua chided, her head tilting to Yuuta’s direction. The two taller Braves looked to the tiny Brave, soon after stepping away from each other a bit.

Deckerd sighed as he looked up at them.

“Thank you, Lua.” He turned his attention to their guest. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be honest,” the red-haired man shook his head and adjusted his shoulder bag, “that was one of the most terrifying things I’ve gone through. And I’ve been held at knife point.”

Seia held back a chuckle, causing Ayako to shoot a look at her.

“Still, thanks for the ride.” Their guest walked up to Ayako and gave a bow. “I appreciate it.”

Ayako’s optics twinkled a bit as she let out a giggle. “Cute and a total sweetheart! I like you already!”

The man cleared his throat as his face flushed. Saejima let out a chuckle before standing straight and looking to Deckerd.

“Officer, this is Dumpson Kimizuka, a reporter who requested to write a book on the Brave Police.”

At the mention of “book”, Yuuta had crouched to Dumpson’s eye level with a big smile on his face.

“You write books?” his eyes widened in curiosity.

Dumpson swore he saw a twinkle in the young Brave’s optics. He let out a chuckle as he tussled his hair a bit.

“I’m a reporter, actually.” He took out a tablet from his bag and turning it on. “Normally, I write for the newspaper, but I saw you on TV a few days back and I knew I had to write a book about you.”

“Cool!” Yuuta’s optics sparkled in delight, trying to peek into Dumpson’s tablet. “What’ll it be about? Is gonna have action? Will my sisters be in it? There’s no mushy stuff, is there?”

The adults around him couldn’t help but chuckle. Saejima broke out into a dramatic pose!

“It’s going to be all about you guys!” Saejima exclaimed, coincided by exaggerated expressions, “The Brave Police! They can laugh! They can get angry! They’re robots with empathy and power!”

“Commissioner, you sound like an ad for us,” Ayako noted, leaning on a wall as she chuckled.

Saejima cleared his throat and straightened his suit, looking towards the reporter. “I trust you’ll have plenty of focus on that in your book.”

“Actually,” Dumpson started to walk towards Yuuta and Deckerd, much to the commissioner's surprise, “I was hoping to start with how it all began before I go into other details.”

Deckerd pointed at himself and his son in surprise. “Us?”

“Yup,” he replied, already setting up a file on his tablet, “I'm certain people would like to hear your story.”

Everyone could see the stars in Yuuta’s eyes as he let out a very long and dramatic gasp. He grabbed his papa and twirled around.

“We’re getting our own book!” he cried out in joy, “Papa, we’re getting a book!”

Deckerd was starting to see stars himself, albeit for entirely different reasons. Yuuta’s spinning was starting to resemble the spinning tea cup rides, nausea and all.

“Y-Yuuta, I know! I’m excited too!” Deckerd held back a small gag. “P-please put me down!”

Yuuta stopped, putting down his papa and letting him lean on his forearm. Dumpson let out a chuckle as he took out his camera, barely noticing a certain red-cladded Brave leaning over his shoulder.

“Saving the rest of us for later, hm?” she said with a smirk.

Dumpson let out a nervous chuckle. “We’ll see with time.” He pointed the camera to Deckerd and Yuuta. “Say cheese!”

___

_The night air of Nanamagari city was crisp and cool, with the winds blowing gently across the skies. In an old abandoned observatory, high atop the hills nearing the borders of the city, maniacal laughter sprang forth from inside._

_“Tonight, we’ll use the winds to our advantage!” The clown with a striped top hat and over-the-top red suit, Doink, snapped his fingers towards his yellow jumpsuit cladded cohort. “Ready the Fad Formula, Pierrot!”_

_“Yes, captain Doink—,” Pierrot was interrupted by the other’s growls of anger. With a crack of a whip, Doink flew into a rampage._

_“How many times must I tell you!?” he cried in rage, “Don’t call me captain! Call me God!”_

_Pierrot galloped at each crack of the whip like a trained animal. “Sorry, God Doink! Sorry!”_

_“Now, fire up the Fad Formula! Release it into the populace!” Doink commanded in glee._

_From the observatory, something had stirred in the air, causing everyone to only think of shiny bald wigs…_

___

Ayako had tried so hard to hold back a laugh. She really did. She had to purse her lips into a closed smile as she saw the bald cap on Dumpson’s head. A single strand of decorative hair stuck out from the top and bounced around at the slightest nudge. The unamused expression on his face made it all the more hilarious.

“Something wrong?” he tilted his head, hair strand springing along with his movement.

It was all in vain. She ended up bursting in laughter, holding her midsection as she let a grin take over her face.

“Wh-What are you wearing?” she managed to speak out in the midst of her roaring mirth.

Dumpson let out a sigh as he took the cap off.

“It’s a new trend at my work place,” he explained, “A work friend of mine insisted I wear it on my visit here.”

He leaned back against a wall, taking the cap off and putting it away.

“Oh, why’re you taking it off now?” Ayako crouched down, hands rested on her chin and lips pouting playfully. “I thought it looked cute on you.”

Dumpson cleared his throat a bit, trying to hide the very obvious blush on his cheeks to keep his composure.

“Because it’s silly.” He turned to face Ayako, looking her dead in the optics. “The real question is, why are you here?”

She shrugged, smirking a little.

“I’m interested to see what you’re gonna write about, Mr. Reporter.” She gave what looked like a wink with the shine of her optics. “Little Yuuta’s going to be nervous about your questions and it’s best for one of his cute big sisters to be with him.”

“And your duties?” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “I hope you’re not shirking them off for this.”

Ayako let out a giggle before giving out another wink, “I told the commish. He said it was fine this time.”

Dumpson let out a defeated sigh.

“Alright,” he said, leaning forward and crossing his arms, “but don’t interrupt, okay—,”

“Sorry to keep you waiting!”

Both Ayako and Dumpson turned the source of the call to find Deckerd stepping into the garage with Yuuta right behind him. Ayako mustered all her strength, trying not to burst out laughing at the sight of her boss sporting a bald wig in favour of his usual police cap.

“Papa had to go buy one of these in a hurry, so we made a stop!” Yuuta explained, crouching to get a better look at the humans. “You got one too, Mr. Dumpson?”

“I did, but I don’t plan to wear it.” He turned to Deckerd with a cocked brow, as if he was witnessing the strangest thing he’s ever seen. “Are you actually going to wear that all day?”

“What can I say?” Deckerd shined a gleeful grin, “I want to set a cool example for my son.”

“I think he looks silly,” Yuuta retorted, flicking the one strand of hair on the bald cap like a toy.

Once again, Ayako had burst forth a fit of uncontrollable laughter, nearly knocking herself over and leaning against a wall. It was only encouraged more by Yuuta’s coinciding giggling.

Deckerd, in response, pouted.

___

“My aunties got some bald caps for themselves.” Yuuta skipped along the street, holding Ayako’s hand to be careful. “And I think I saw Mr. Azuma wear one too!”

“Oh? I didn’t think of him to a trendy kind of guy,” Ayako noted.

Yuuta nodded in response. “Me too. The weirdest part was that he was smiling!”

Ayako chuckled at the mental image, looking onward at their destination. She was met with Dumpson giving an annoyed look, where she put her hands up.

“Sorry. I know. No interruptions,” she said, hands behind her back as she took in her surroundings.

The reporter had wanted to ‘get a feel for how things went down’, and to him that meant visiting the old warehouse where Yuuta got assembled. It felt more like a field trip than an interview, but it was a welcome field trip nonetheless. Anything felt like a marginal improvement from monotony.

Even if Deckerd’s new look was starting to wear out its welcome.

“Aside from the promotion to Head of the Brave Police, how has Yuuta changed your life?” Dumpson tapped on his tablet and glanced at Deckerd, still trying to wrap his head around the policeman’s fashion choices.

Deckerd tapped his chin as he slowed in his steps.

“I suppose I’m starting to see things the way my parents do.” He started off, rubbing the back of his neck as he smiled at Yuuta, “Every day’s an adventure. We're discovering and rediscovering all kinds of things.”

“Papa taught me about snail mail yesterday!” Yuuta leaned down to get closer to the two. “Did you know they mailed stuff with paper? It’s so old!”

Dumpson let out a chuckle, entering this information in his tablet.

“Would you say your dad’s also your teacher?” he asked.

“Mhm!” He gave a curt nod with a small smile. “I still got my police database for work stuff, but papa teaches me everything else about the world! He uses stories and picture books!”

Ayako found herself smiling in not speaking for once. It was good to see her little brother enjoy himself as he told his side of things. For now, she enjoyed being a spectator, watching Dumpson type in every word the other two had spoken. She took the time to take in her surroundings. The city was beautiful when one was absorbing the sights instead of looking out for trouble.

Then things started to get weird.

In a matter of minutes, Ayako noticed people entering into some kind of daze. Before long, they started to rush to the nearest store and come out wearing weird glasses with noses and moustaches attached to the frames. She blinked a bit, looking all around her and looking more disturbed the longer she observed.

“What the actual hell?”

“Miss Ayako, I asked you not to interrupt the interview,” Dumpson insisted.

She snapped out of her trance, directing her attention to the reporter.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.” She looked around as more and more people started wearing the strange glasses. “Just look at everyone!”

Dumpson cocked his brow before looking around, eyes as big as dinner plates at what he saw. He rubbed his eyes several times as if to make sure his sight wasn’t playing tricks on him.

“Groucho Marx glasses now?” he asked no one in particular, “These trends are getting crazier by the day, aren’t they?”

He turned to look at Deckerd only to find the officer running to a store close by. Yuuta tilted his head, cocking his own brow.

“Papa?” he called, looking to Ayako who only shrugged in response.

In a matter of minutes, Deckerd came running back with two sets of glasses, handing one of them to Dumpson.

“They had a two for one sale!” he said, putting his own pair on and discarding the bald cap, “Pretty neat, right?”

Dumpson only gave him a deadpan look and response, “Please tell me you’re not expecting me to wear these.”

Yuuta furrowed his brow a bit, taking a closer look at them.

“They look silly,” he said, “Papa, are you okay?”

Deckerd blinked a bit before rubbing the back of his neck and giving a stupid grin. “I'm fine! Trendy, even!”

“You look stupid, Boss!” Ayako admitted, taking away the glasses to get a closer look. “Why would you even wear these? They don’t make you look good, let alone like an officer!”

The officer yelped in surprise, trying to reach up to Ayako’s hand.

“What are you doing!?” he cried out, “Ayako, give those back!”

She shook her head. “You’re going to make us look bad, you know?” she replied nonchalantly, crushing them between her fingers, “I’m trying to save your rep here!”

“What I wear is up to me!” He crossed his arms and gave her a stern look, “So what if I wanted to go with the crowd?”

“Okay, now you’re just acting like a kid.”

“Excuse me?!”

Yuuta and Dumpson could only watch as the two started to argue about the matter. Yuuta struggled to find for an opportunity to stop the fight. Dumpson, in the meantime, leaned back on a post and watched the two in their debate.

Or more specifically, watched Ayako stand her ground.

Something about the way she held herself was fascinating for him to watch. Her stance on the matter was clear as day, carrying some level of gravity to the situation. She clearly wasn’t supporting the weird trend. Yet, she never sacrificed her playful nature. Her mirth was contagious! The way her confidence shined with every retort was more than what the reporter expected.

Perhaps he underestimated how alive the other Braves were compared to Yuuta. At least if watching the red Brave had any say in the matter.

___

“Sorry about interrupting the interview." Ayako apologized as she drove Dumpson to the newspaper offices, “Hope the ride makes up for it.”

“Thanks, but it really was unexpected.” He gazed out her window, watching people pass by with Groucho Marx glasses of their own. “Then again, so was this weird trend.”

“I know, right? I still can’t believe he’s going along with this!” She slowed to a stop, opening her door to let Dumpson out. “He’s being so stubborn!”

Dumpson chuckled a bit, adjusting his shoulder strap bag. “I got at least some material for my book. Might need another interview or so to get more info.”

“Guess so.” Ayako paused for a second before speaking once more. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“How come you didn’t join him?” She changed into her robotic form and looked him right in the eye. “I figured it’d be a human thing to go along with fads.”

Dumpson blinked a bit, being a tad caught in surprise from the question. He leaned his shoulder against a nearby lamp post and looked up at her with an assuring smile.

“If I may be honest, I hardly ever notice them.” He crossed his arms and adjusted himself to be comfortable. “And even then, they’re usually silly trends that don’t last very long. I take pride in being a hard worker. I'd rather put all my energy into my writing than in something that’ll fade the next day. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with not following these kinds of things.”

His thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of Ayako’s giggles; a rather strange contrast to her usual boisterous laughter. He cocked his brow at her.

“What’s so funny?”

She shook her head and knelt down to face him, resting her chin on her hands and smiling softly.

“You’re a very interesting person, you know that?”

Dumpson was taken aback, standing straighter than usual.

“There’s nothing wrong with my stance, I’ll have you know.”

“No, I mean it in a good way.” The Brave smiled, “You’ve got a strong head on your shoulders. I like that about you.”

He blinked, his thoughts still trying to catch up with what he heard. Feeling rather silly, he let out a laugh and relaxed, his face flushing a bit from embarrassment.

“Th-thank you, Miss Ayako,” he stammered as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Not a problem,” she replied, giving a wink in response and causing Dumpson to blush even more.

___

_Laughter could be heard once more from the old observatory. With both phases of their plan a complete success, Doink and Pierrot decided to increase the potency of the next batch and release it into the city. The two waited in anticipation for the hilarity of the results…_

___

Everything had all gone to the deep end of the weirdness spectrum.

Overnight, the denizens of Nanamagari, both old and young, became obsessive over skin tight zentai suits. The shortage of the product lead to full out brawls, robberies, vandalism, and even riots. Lua claimed to have seen the Commissioner and Vice Commissioner fighting over a pink zentai suit.

A funny sight if not for strange and disturbing circumstances.

Deckerd crossed his arms, shaking his head at the mass arrest in his own navy-blue spandex.

“If they wanted their own suits, they could have bought their own.” He turned to his team and Dumpson, but found unease etched upon their faces. He gave a questioning look. “Is everything alright?”

Yuuta shook his head, clinging closer to Ayako’s side. She took a deep breath before looking right at Deckerd, holding the Little Brave close for reassurance.

“You’re not finding anything wrong with this?” Ayako cocked her brow, sneering at the situation.

Deckerd shrugged and asked, “What do you mean?”

“Are you serious?!” She exclaimed, waving her arms to Deckerd, trying to point to his entire body. “I mean, have you seen yourself?! What are you even wearing?!”

Yuuta nodded. “Papa, this isn’t like you.”

He rolled his eyes and put his hands on his hips.

“I get your concern,” he started, leaning forward for emphasis, “but you shouldn't try to govern what I wear.”

“That’s not what I’m getting at!” She poked him in the chest, pushing him back a bit. “It’s messing with your mind! Would you really wear something like this?!”

The officer fell flat on his butt, getting back on his feet and widening his stance.

“Ayako, that’s not how you treat your fellow officer!”

 “Maybe present yourself like you’re my boss and then we’ll talk!” she snarked back, fists clenched at her side.

The little Brave winced at all the yelling. He shuffled away from the ensuing fight and sat beside Dumpson. He glanced at him a little, blinking a bit upon noticing the reporter not wearing tights of his own.

“Mr. Dumpson?” he started to question, tilting his head a little, “How come you’re not wearing tights?”

Dumpson rolled his eyes in response. “I wouldn’t be caught dead in those things,” he explained, “I’m shocked people are going out of their way for spandex!”

“Me too.” Yuuta nodded in agreement, looking at the masses watching Deckerd and Ayako argue. “It’s funny, too. Papa would never wear something like that.”

Dumpson cocked his brow. “No?”

“Nuh-uh.” Yuuta shook his head. “He found super hero comics silly because of the tight costumes. He said they looked too uncomfy and gross and…”

Yuuta paused for a moment, letting the wheels in his processor turn. He hardly noticed Dumpson looking at him strangely.

“You okay, kid?” questioned Dumpson, shaking at Yuuta’s forearm a bit.

Yuuta immediately shot up, causing the reporter to stumble a bit. The Brave Detective took out his badge and contacted the police station.

“Commissioner! We need to—,” His words were cut off by shock. His face then started contorting into a very disturbed expression upon what he saw on his video feed. “Oh. I see you won the fight.”

Right in Yuuta’s visual feed was Commissioner Saejima in hot pink spandex; an image he will never be able to erase from his mind.

“As you can see. What’s your status?”

Yuuta clenched his optics and shook his head. “We got a situation in our hands! I suspect the outbreak’s too concentrated to be a fad!” His expression became sterner with determination. “We launch an investigation on the matter!”

“I see.” Saejima gave a curt nod. “If you suspect so, then let’s investigate! Have your father ready to go right away!”

“Yes, sir!” Yuuta closed his badge and put it away, directing his attention to Deckerd. “Papa, we gotta get going—,”

“Ayako cut that out!”

Yuuta found himself interrupted once more, watching as Ayako attempted to pull off the spandex from Deckerd’s body.

“Your outfit’s terrible! Just change back already!” She tried tugging harder, only for the zentai to rip and causing Deckerd to fall on his face.

He turned to look Ayako dead in the optic. “That was uncalled for!”

“Excuse me?! That outfit’s mind controlled you or something!” she retorted, crossing her arms. “At least, that’s what you’re acting like!”

“But everyone’s wearing them!” Deckerd’s eyes widened a bit as he pointed to Ayako. “I got it!” he said, “You’re jealous you don’t have one!”

Ayako cringed at the thought of wearing one of those suits.

“Never in my life! Ugh!” She turned her back on him, crossing her arms. “You know what? Be that way!” She patted Yuuta on the head. “Call the others to help you with other stuff, little bro. I need to cool my head.”

With a quick “Change!”, Ayako shifted to her truck mode and drove off.

“Wait, Miss Ayako!” Dumpson ran after her with his expression filled with concern.

“Nee-chan!” Yuuta cried, reaching out to her. When it was clear he couldn’t reach her, he pulled his hand back and huffed. Turning to Deckerd, he puffed his cheeks out from being very cross.

“Papa, that was mean!” He stamped his foot on the ground and leered at him. “You hurt Ayako nee-chan’s feelings!”

Deckerd shook his head in response. “I was …” He took a closer look at the spandex pieces around his wrists, eyebrows furrowing the more his mind started to clear. “I…” he started tugging at the zentai around his waist. His anger started to die down as he looked up at his son. “What am I doing wearing this?”

Yuuta crossed his arms. “You tell me. We got an investigation to do.”

The officer had to pause for a second, gazing at his spandex-cladded feet before looking up at him.

“Let me get a change of clothes first.”

___

“Our investigations have led us to the abandoned observatory on the cliffs,” Saejima informed them, taking off the hood of his hot pink zentai. Coordinates prompted on the Braves' monitors as they sped up the mountain roads. “We’ve identified some kind of chemical in the air. It's proven to have heavy effects on the mind. You’ll need to investigate the matter and arrest those responsible for this.”

“Yes sir!” Deckerd affirmed, putting his fad items on the passenger’s seat.

“Mr. Saejima, why’re you still wearing the tights?” asked Yuuta, sounding very disturbed from his sights on the video feed.

Saejima shrugged in response. “I thought it looked flattering on me,” he turned to the vice commissioner, “what do you think—,”

Azuma glared back in response. “We speak of this to no one.”

Saejima winced a bit before turning back to the screen. “Be quick about it, Brave Police.” He hung up the call, leaving Deckerd to lean back a bit.

“I still can’t believe I got fooled so easily without even knowing it.” He grimaced, shaking his head a bit.

Yuuta blinked his lights in agreement.

“You scared me,” he said, continuing his drive, “Papa, do all trends happen like this?”

“Not all the time.” Deckerd leaned forward on the wheel. “I’m sorry, Yuuta. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Again, his headlights blinked in response.

“You made Ayako nee-chan mad too.” He said, huffing a little bit.

Lua drove up to the two with her headlights directed to them.

“Boss, shouldn’t we call her to come with us?” she asked worryingly.

“No.” Deckerd shook his head, watching the road ahead of him. “She needs some space after everything.”

The Braves continued their drive up the mountain, approaching what seemed like a normal observatory. The air felt heavy, either from the tension from this whole mess or the presumed mix of air-borne chemicals.

Upon letting Deckerd out, the Braves changed to their robotic forms. Seia kicked open the doors revealing gaudy spray paint on corroding cement walls. Steeling himself, Deckerd gave a quick nod and motioned the Braves to follow his lead. The team walked down the darkening hallways, unease settling in their minds.

“Keep your guard up, everyone.” Seia kept her rifle at hand, searching around for anything unexpected.

Without a second's notice, a wall crashed down in front of them, blocking their path! The Braves turned around, only to have another wall block the way and trapping them in a stony prison!

“Stay together, everyone!” cried Yuuta, urging himself and the others to move back to back and bring their weapons out. They started to scan the area, searching for anything out of place.

Deckerd joined the Braves. His hand almost grabbed his sidearm when something compelled him to stop. Fatigue started to crawl through his veins, causing numbness in his muscles. His body felt like lead, causing him to sink into the ground and lay back against a wall.

“Papa?” Yuuta was the first to notice the change in Deckerd’s attitude, glancing at the police officer. “Papa, what’s wrong?’

“I'm so tired…” he lazily responded, eyes growing heavy.

Lua turned to him, bo staff still at hand. “Boss, stay focused! We have a mission!”

“You’re right…” He tried getting up. Yet, he found himself slumped back against the wall, more fatigued than before. “But I really don’t care right now…”

“This can’t be good.” Seia started to scan the area for pathogens. After a quick scan of the walls, she detected a high concentration of chemicals seeping through the vents!

“Ohoho! You think we didn’t expect you, Brave Police?”

The team (aside from an unfazed Deckerd) tensed at the mysterious voice, stepping back before the walls fell around them. They soon found themselves in a large round chamber made of decaying concrete. A hidden spotlight revealed a gigantic pink metal ball spinning to show its painted clown’s face. The ball started to sprout limbs, revealing itself to be a giant robot with a pointed hat and vibrant green hair!

“How do you like the Mays Blues Extract Fad Formula!” Doink cackled as he snapped his fingers. “Made from the essence of useless employees and NEETs alike! Guaranteed to instantly kill your drive!”

“You got them, God Doink!” Pierrot laughed alongside him, making their joy all the more irritating to the Braves’ audial sensors.

Yuuta gritted his teeth, charging towards the round menace.

“You big jerks!!” He cried, about to slam into it. Unexpectedly, the robot’s hand caught Yuuta’s arm and started to spin the little Brave like a Flying Scooter! He started to scream as the robot spun him around so fast he was seeing blurs! In a matter of seconds, they sent him flying into a wall!

“Yuuta!” Lua charged towards the Brave Detective. She managed to catch his arm but found herself caught in the momentum and slamming into the wall with him.

Seia took her gun, aiming and firing at the robot’s joints, but the metal clown didn’t slow down in the slightest. Instead, it opened its palms and sent a flurry of blows towards her. She could only block the first few until the sheer force and speed of the attacks overwhelmed her and knocked her back.

Yuuta struggled to get up, looking to his father with distress.

“Papa! We need to call the J-Roader!”

As he cried, Deckerd could only glance at Yuuta, hand hardly reaching out to him. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find the energy to help his son. He didn't even notice the large hand of the clown reaching down and snatching him.

“Papa!” Tears started to well in Yuuta’s optics as he tried to get up, the strain and ache of his body keeping him down.

The clowns let out a laugh. “God Doink, let’s do the finale!” cried Pierrot, manning the controls. Doink had other plans.

“Patience!” Doink started to snap his fingers in rapid succession. “Haste makes waste, remember? And I’ve a much more entertaining show stopper!”

___

Ayako could only see red. Her exhausts continued to burst with steam as she drove down a random neighbourhood.

“Sure, don’t believe me! Keep acting like a f!cking idiot!” she huffed, headlights facing the streets, “Stupid Boss and his stupid fads and—,”

“Ayako!”

She snapped from her anger and turned her attention to Dumpson. The reporter slowed to a halt, leaning on his knees to catch his breath.

“What brings you here?” She faced her headlights in front of her, eying nothing in particular. “Boss and Yuuta aren’t here to do your interview.”

“I know,” he said, leaning against her door. “I got worried is all.”

Her headlights shifted to him. “Care to explain?”

“You ran off,” he sighed, standing straight and dusting his pants, “so I figured you wanted someone to talk to.”

Ayako stayed quiet for a moment, if not less, before opening her doors to him. “Hop in. I can drive you to your place.”

Dumpson smiled as he stepped in and took a seat, buckling himself in before Ayako started her slow drive.

“I can give you directions if you want.”

“Mm.” She stopped at a red light, letting herself relax a bit. “So, why only focus on Yuuta and Deckerd?”

Dumpson widened his eyes before chuckling.

“Right to the hard questions first, huh.” He sighed, leaning back on the chair and resting his hands behind his head. “If I may be frank, those two fascinate me a bit. Their first showing on the news against the magnet guy was interesting.”

“Oh?” She turned to a nearby parking lot, setting herself at an open spot.

Dumpson nodded in response.

“There’s something natural about their bond. Something interesting,” he explained, smiling a bit, “I wanted to try and get their story out there. Figure out how they got so close in what I’m assuming’s a short time.”

“What about us?” inquired Ayako. Dumpson glanced aside in response.

“I was actually wary about you ladies.” He shifted a bit, leaning forward in his seat. “There wasn’t a lot known about you all. The only info I got was from the Gawan incident and even then, it didn’t say a lot about you.”

Ayako was about to retort when her thoughts got interrupted by Dumpson’s chuckles.

“But you changed that.” he added, “The way you stand your ground and fight for yourself is more than I realized.” He gave a cheeky grin, hoping she could see it. “I admire your drive, Miss Ayako. It made me see there’s more to you than what’s on the news.”

Her headlights flashed a bit before letting out a gentle laugh of her own.

“Call me Ayako, silly,” she chimed, “I’d like to think we’re friends, what with how many rides we’ve had.”

The reported blinked once more in surprise, soon chuckling alongside her giggles. He leaned on her dashboard with a goofy smile drawn on his face.

“I’d like that, Ayako.”

Their glee got cut short when cackling sprang from her communication lines. Dumpson jumped back at the sudden noise as someone started to speak.

“Give up now, Brave Police! Surrender or the officer dies!”

“They’re in trouble!” cried Dumpson, sitting upright and clinging to his seat. “We have to—,”

“I know!” Ayako interrupted, already shifting gears and speeding ahead! “Hang on, guys! I’m coming!”

___

Deckerd’s eyes glazed at the robotic finger pointed at his head. His head flopped to the side as the finger opened to reveal a spinning drill ready to pierce his head.

“Give back my papa!” Yuuta screamed out, tears rolling down his cheeks. “Give him back or I’ll—,”

“You’ll what?” Doink interrupted, inching the drill closer to the officer. “You’re not in any position to make demands, little brat.”

Yuuta gritted his teeth and glared at the enormous clown robot, clinging to his big sisters. The elder Braves shared their resentment at the clowns, leering with their fists clenched.

“Now, now! I’m willing to make a deal here!” the mad clown started to snap his fingers, grinning like a dog. “I’ll let the police officer go. But only if you kill each other off!”

The Braves let out a collective gasp.

“You monsters!” Lua clung onto her siblings, baring fangs at the menacing jesters.

“So, what’ll it be, Brave Police?” The red-cladded clown jeered as the two clowns continued to snap their fingers in sadistic elation. “Your life or his? You have until three.”

Yuuta tensed up and clenched his fists.

“Two.”

The drill inched closer to Deckerd.

“On—,”

**CRASH!**

A red and yellow dump truck smashed through the crumbling roof. Dumpson flew out the door, hanging in the air before Ayako changed into her robotic form and grabbed him. Setting him aside, she got her club out and swung at the robotic clown’s wrist without a moment’s hesitation.

Deckerd let out a weak cry for help before Yuuta bolted and caught the officer in his hands. Despite the air time and the impact of the catch, Deckerd remained unmotivated.

“Papa!” Yuuta hugged him close, nuzzling his cheek on him. “Are you okay?”

“Eh,” replied Deckerd, shrugging in response.

Dumpson ran to the Braves, catching his breath from all the excitement. “What happened to him?” he asked, watching Yuuta set his papa beside him.

Seia shook her head.

“They set up a trap.” She explained, reloading her rifle in the meanwhile, “Some kind of energy killing gas.”

“Please get yourselves out of here!” Lua got her bo staff out and ready. “The area is still contaminated!”

Dumpson shook his head. “But that won’t help you!” He gripped Deckerd’s shoulders, “Officer, snap out of it! The Braves need you!”

“But that sounds so hard…” Deckerd slurred, slumping back once again.

“God Doink, I thought the Mays Blues was still in the air!” questioned Pierrot.

“It is!” Doink leaned closer to the monitors, clenching his fist. “The other one’s drive should be dead by now!”

“Drive…” Ayako thought aloud, glancing between the two humans before blinking in revelation. “That’s it!”

Ayako grabbed Deckerd's shoulder and shook him.

"Come on, Boss!" she said, "Put some fight into it, Boss! We need your help!"

"H-help...?" Deckerd managed to stutter.

Ayako nodded, giving him a toothy grin.

"You're not gonna let some gas get you down, are ya?" She gripped her bicep and struck a pose. "Come on! Put some fighting spirit into it!"

"Ayako nee-chan's right!" piped in Yuuta, clenching his fists, "Fight it off, papa!"

"F-fight..." Deckerd started to tremble a bit, placing his hands on the ground for support.

Seia and Lua glanced at each other before sharing a nodding.

"Boss, you can do this!" cheered Lua with a smile.

"Don't let these clowns beat you!" Seia shouted with determination.

"You're better than this, Boss!" Ayako stood, yelling as loudly as she can. "Stand up and fight!"

The red-cladded clown clicked his tongue, smiling whilst shaking his head.

"Don't you get it, silly robots?!" Doink snapped his fingers at a steady rate. "There's no fighting off the Mays Blues Formula! Just give u-,"

"B-Brave..."

The clowns switched from amusement to distress upon hearing those words from Deckerd. The two leaned into their monitors as close as physically possible. They couldn't believe their eyes! The Head of the Brave Police was actually standing up!

"Brave...!"

Deckerd struggled to get on his feet, straining to reach for his badge. His breathing was tense and eyes twitching from the struggle. The moment Deckerd had his fingertips graze the badge, he gripped it tightly as he can! Mustering every ounce of strength in his body, he called out the command!

"Brave up! J-Yuusha!"

Not skipping a beat, Yuuta faced the wall and made a dash to it! The J-Roader crashed through the wall and charged to Yuuta! As soon as they reached each other, they combined into the mighty J-Yuusha!

"You did it!" Dumpson turned to Deckerd. "Knew you could fight it off!"

Deckerd nodded before leaning on the reporter's shoulders, catching his breath. After all the strain, he managed to give a smile to Ayako. The red Brave flashed a wink in return.

Doink gritted his teeth and started a flurry of finger snapping. "Pierrot! Activate the turrets!"

"But won't it tear the place down!?" quivered Pierrot. Doink cracked open his whip and snapped it like wildfire.

"I don't care! Do it!"

"O-okay!" Pierrot smashed his fist into a big red button! In an instant, the clown robot's midsection opened up to reveal a belt of turrets! Upon opening, they fired a flurry of lasers at the Braves!

The Braves ducked for cover, Lua and Seia shielding the humans as best she can. J-Yuusha blocked as many of the lasers as he could with his baton, diverting them away from the team.

Ayako searched around for something - anything - to stop the robot. From the corner of her optic, she spotted a crack on the wall. A hidden chamber full of chemical tanks and equipment lied beyond the crack. A smirk wormed its way on her face.

"Someone cover me!" J-Yuusha commanded, "I need to get in close!"

"Seia! I need a boost!"

Everyone turned their attention to their eyes to Ayako. They watched her charge into the fray with an enormous tank over her head. Seia soon got the hint, stepping into Ayako's path and cupping her hands together. Ayako stepped into her hands and leaped up high, staring down at the oversized clown mech with a toothy grin.

"EAT 500 METRIC TONS OF—,"

"Ayako, don't you dare finish that sentence!" Cried Lua as Ayako slam dunked the formula right on the clown!

Upon landing on her knees, Ayako turned to face her foe. The pink menace had jammed its joints and struggled to make a single move.

“Now’s my chance!” Not wasting the opportunity, J-Yuusha rammed into the mecha and thrust his baton at its core! The mecha exploded into billions of pieces. Surprisingly, the two clowns survived, lying in the rubble and soaked in their own formula.

"Captain Doink?"

"I told you to call me God." Doink bonked Pierrot on the head with minimal effort.

"God Doink, which formula was that?"

"I think..." Doink's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. “It’s the fast-acting Smiley Face extract for making people behave!”

Pierrot let out a gasp, watching the Brave Detective loom over them with two sets of handcuffs.

“Doink and Pierrot, you’re under arrest for mass brainwashing and air pollution!”

 

By the time the police got there, both clowns were completely compliant to their arrest. Everyone agreed it was eerie seeing two clowns act so straight-laced.

___

Ayako let out a sigh, slowing to a stop at the red light. Barely a day had gone by and she already missed the thrill of fighting bad guys. All that excitement gone in a flash and she was already longing for another fight. Yet, here she was. Back to mundane patrols through Nanamagari, waiting for the exciting thing to happen to her.

“Wait! Hold on!”

Ayako’s attention snapped to Dumpson dashing through the street again. A single thought crossed her mind: _Guess timing is on my side now!_

Dumpson leaned forward on his knees and caught his breathing, looking up to give Ayako a smile.

“Guess today’s my lucky day.” He chuckled before standing straight. “Mind if I catch a ride?”

“Sure thing!” she replied, opening her doors to let him in.

Dumpson sat at the driver’s seat, buckling his seatbelt and leaning back.

“So, you going back for another interview?” She started to snicker, jostling her vehicle form a bit. “Maybe this time, Boss won’t wear the bald cap.”

Dumpson smiled while shaking his head a bit. “I am, but I have other plans too.”

“Oh?”

“Yup.” He rubbed the back of his neck a bit, blush marking itself slightly along his freckles. “I was thinking once I finish their interviews today, I can interview the rest of you.” He started glancing to the side, nervously chuckling a bit. “I was thinking I can start with you.”

That caught Ayako by surprise.

“Oh, really now?” Her playful tone rang in her inquiry.

Dumpson cleared his throat as he sat up straight. “Y-Yea. M-maybe we can set an interview later today?”

Ayako giggled, keeping her headlights on the traffic light. “Sounds like a plan!” She revved up her engine in her excitement. “Let’s get you there quick then!”

As soon as the light turned green, she charged right into the city streets laughing all the way. This time, Dumpson joined in with his own uproarious laughter.

____

_In a far-off French village, deep in a room filled to the brim with toys sat a sharply dressed man speaking with someone on a cheap cell phone._

_“Oui. I’ll be sure to have the job done.” The man began to smile as he took a sip from his glass of kir. “Of course, I warn you this will not come cheap.”_

_“So, you’ve said.” His client, their voice masked to hide their true identity, spoke. “You will provide, correct?”_

_“Mais oui. I’ve yet to have a failure, let alone one to a robot.” Said the man putting his glass aside. “Adieu, mon ami.”_

_The man placed the phone inside an opened brown package next to a set of photographs. Taking the package in his hand, he tossed it into his fireplace and watched the flames consume them. He took the top photo from the pile on his table and scrutinized every detail of it._

_“Destroy the Brave Police by driving the Head mad? What a silly notion.” The man threw the picture into the air, chuckling to himself. “Still, this is merely child’s play.”_

_Hidden by his sleeve, a small knife popped into the palm of his hand. He threw the knife right into the picture, right through the forehead of his target._

_“What sort of sweet death will I bring you, Kurumi Tomonaga?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter art once again by BloodyLily16~! (Honestly the funniest we have thus far)


	7. Lua’s Debut! Attack of the Murderous Toymaker!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurumi's running late for school when she finds Lua, who is out on her own. But strange things are happening, and it's up to Lua to find out who and what is causing them before it's too late!

  
  
Kurumi burst out of the house at a sprint, holding a half-eaten piece of toast in her mouth. She ran down the pathway to the street, using the brick wall surrounding their yard to turn without slowing down.

“Late again, Kurumi?” called Mrs. Itohata as Kurumi ran by. 

“Can’t talk now!” Kurumi shouted around her mouthful of toast. “Sorry!” She crammed the rest of the toast in her mouth and picked up the pace. She turned the corner and ran down the sidewalk, dodging around the crowds of people who thought that seven in the morning was a reasonable time to wake up. She dodged around Mr. Mudra, offering a quick hello. 

“Kurumi?”

Kurumi slid to a stop and looked to the side. A power hoe sidled up to the curb, grinding to a stop.

“Lua?” Kurumi turned to look at her. “I didn’t know you were on patrols already.” 

“Oh!” Lua coughed. “R-right. W-well, you could say it’s a bit of a test run.” She laughed nervously, coughing again. 

Kurumi tilted her head in confusion. “Why are you coughing? You’re a robot.” 

“R-robots can cough too!” said Lua. She cleared her throat, and her headlights tilted up so that she was looking up at the sky. She looked like Deckerd when he was lying. 

Wait.

Kurumi felt a slow grin creep across her face. She leaned forward. “Lua. Are you really on patrol?”

“L-like I said!” Lua’s cab rotated back and forth, like someone fidgeting. “It’s a test run.” 

“Okay,” said Kurumi. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and scrolled through it. 

“What are you doing?” asked Lua. 

“Calling Deckerd to ask about the test run.” Kurumi hoped that she sounded nonchalant.

“W-what? Wait, no!” Lua turned around and picked Kurumi up with her scoop. Kurumi yelped, almost dropping her phone. Something clanked right next to her head, on the outside of the scoop, as Lua held her so that she was level with her windshield. Lua seemed taken aback by whatever it was, but she quickly turned back to the matter at hand. “Please, don’t!” 

“Why, Detective~!” Kurumi leaned forward, grinning. “Are you out without permission?”

“I, well, you see…” Somehow, despite the fact that she was a ten ton power hoe, Lua looked embarrassed. Her headlights drooped to the ground. “To tell you the truth, I snuck out. I wanted to see what it was like, out here.” 

Kurumi giggled. “How rebellious!” 

“Please don’t tell Deckerd!” 

“I won’t!” Kurumi held up a finger. “On one condition.” 

“What condition?” Lua pulled Kurumi a little closer.

“You take me to school!” Kurumi adjusted her uniform skirt. “I might be running a little late, through no fault of my own. But if you drive me, I’ll get there on time!” 

Lua sighed. “Just this once.” She opened the door into her cab and lowered the scoop next to it. “Hop in, if you please.” 

“Thank you very much!” Kurumi sat down in the cab and buckled herself in. “Do you need me to give you directions?” 

“I found it on GPS.” Lua drove down the road. “We’ll be there shortly.” 

 

————

 

“Here.” Lua stopped and opened the door. 

“Nice!” Kurumi hopped out onto the sidewalk, a few feet away from the entrance into the school. “Thank you!” 

“Oh my G*d, Tomonaga!” A pair of girls walked by, snickering. 

“What the h*ll’s up with your ride?” asked the shorter one. “I thought your brother was a cop, not a construction worker!” 

“Language!” Lua turned to face them. 

“Geez!” The taller one jumped.

“This is Lua,” said Kurumi. “You know, one of the Brave Police?” She smirked. “She was just giving me a ride to school.” 

The taller one looked impressed. 

“Kurumi!” hissed Lua. 

“You’ve got a member of the Brave Police driving you around?” snorted the shorter one. “I’m surprised! I never would have guessed your brother would do something like that!”

“Well—,” 

“I was going this way anyway,” said Lua, “and I happened to meet her. Whatever you’re implying isn’t the case.” 

“I’m sure,” said the shorter one. 

The taller girl rolled her eyes and poked her friend in the cheek. “We’re going to be late if you don’t stop picking fights with everyone you meet. Let’s go.” 

The shorter girl snorted. “Fine. Whatever.” She turned on her heel and left, with her friend following after her. 

“Did you see the looks on their faces?” Kurumi laughed. “I thought Fukunaga’s eyes were going to pop out of her skull!” 

“Kurumi Tomonaga!” Lua turned to look Kurumi square in the eye. “I don’t appreciate you using me for prestige. I know your brother must have taught you better than that.” 

Kurumi coughed nervously. “Oh. S-sorry.” 

Lua sighed and turned away. “I don’t mind driving you to school, but this is a little much. Besides, I’m sure you have other things that will make you cool or popular, besides who your brother is.” 

“Sure I do!” snorted Kurumi. “But being pretty and good at foreign languages is nothing compared to knowing giant fricking robots!” 

“Language!” 

“‘Frick’ isn’t even an actual swear word!” 

“Would your brother be pleased to hear you saying it?”

Kurumi bit her lip. 

“That’s what I thought.” Lua sighed and turned away. “I should go.” 

“Oh come on!” Kurumi stomped her foot. “Stay a little while longer! Please?” 

“And do what?” Lua turned back to her. “You have to go to class soon, and I can’t exactly join you.” 

“You could watch from the window or something,” said Kurumi.

Lua sighed. “I’d be a distraction. I don’t want to anger your teacher.” 

“It would be great!” Kurumi clasped her hands and leaned forward, trying to look as cute as possible. “Please?” 

Lua stared her down. “I’ll come back during lunch.” 

Kurumi’s shoulder slumped, and she groaned. “Fine.” 

Lua laughed. “Sorry to disappoint you.” 

“I have lunch at 12:30,” said Kurumi. 

“See you then,” said Lua. She turned back to the road and drove off. 

Kurumi sighed and trudged to the entrance to the school 

“Kurumi-nee-chan!” 

Kurumi yelped as something… or someone barreled into her at top speeds. She stumbled, and stepped on something, crushing it beneath her foot. It almost felt like she’d stepped on a remote-controlled toy. 

“What the—,” Kurumi stopped herself and looked down to see a certain someone grinning ear to ear. “Emily!” 

“I surprised you, didn’t I?” Emily giggled, hugging Kurumi. 

“Yeah you did!” Kurumi ruffled Emily’s hair. 

“Ack!” Emily made a face. “Noooo! You’re making it messy!” 

“Miss Kurumi!” Kikumaro ran up to her. “Who was the person dropping you off?” 

“Oh, that was Lua.” 

“Lua?” Masaki ran up, sliding to a stop by Kikumaro. “Like the Brave Police?”

“Mm-hm!” Kurumi grinned. “I got her to give me a ride to school today. No biggie.”  
The children’s faces lit up. 

“Can we meet her?” asked Masaki. 

“Masaki likes the Brave Police!” said Emily. “And he has a biiiig crush on Ayako!” 

“I do not!” 

“You do too,” said Kikumaro. “You’re always talking about her.” 

“I just think she’s cool.” Masaki pouted. 

Kurumi laughed. “I’ll tell you what. She’s going to come back to eat lunch with me. You can meet her then.” 

“Really?” gasped Emily. 

“Awesome!” crowed Masaki. 

“Thank you, Miss Kurumi!” said Kikumaro. 

“No problem!” Kurumi grinned. “I’ve got to go to class. See you then?”

“See you!” said Emily. She hugged Kurumi one last time, and then ran with Kikumaro and Masaki back to their school. Kurumi waved at them, and looked around on the ground for whatever she’d stepped on. Something black and metallic caught her eye. 

Kurumi picked one of the pieces up and stared at it. It was shiny and covered in black plastic, with a sakura pattern on the back. She sifted through the rest of the pieces and found wheels, and a giant drill bit. 

“Weird.” Kurumi pocketed the piece her had in her hand, and then walked through the gates into the school. 

 

————

 

Lua tilted her scoop down to her front, inspecting it for dings and scrapes. Something had hit her that morning, and it had felt strange. She noticed a scratch in her paint. It was long, thin, and silver. She moved her scoop closer, and looked through her database for possibilities. It almost looked like…

“A knife?” The databased dinged, and her HUD showed her pictures of an array of small shivs and stilettos. 

Lua relaxed her scoop and thought long and hard. She’d been in a residential area, with no tall buildings the knife could have been dropped from. The angle had been almost 90 degrees from the ground (88.672º to be precise), and there were no drones or planes overhead. 

Lua replayed the footage of the encounter with Kurumi and studied the height. None of the houses, fences, or walls were anywhere near tall enough to have been the point the knife had dropped from. Lua shook her cab in disgust. This was getting nowhere. 

Something wet plopped on top of Lua’s cabin. 

“Shoot!” Lua looked up to see a group of pigeons sitting on a power line. “Of all the rotten….” Her voice faltered. _Powerlines._

Lua reviewed the footage, searching every frame with powerlines for something unusual. Finally, she spotted it; a black, shiny, something, hidden among the powerlines above where Kurumi had been standing. She zoomed in as much as she could. It was black and boxy, and looked a little like a spider. 

“Oh, goshdarnit it to heck!” Lua hissed. She started down the road, pressing the speed limit as much as she dared. “Kurumi, what have you gotten yourself into now?” 

 

————

 

“Do you think I could meet Ayako?” asked Masaki. 

“I could ask Deckerd,” said Kurumi. “But I think she has someone she likes. A reporter or something?”

“Ha!” Emily stuck her tongue out at Masaki. 

“Is he as handsome as me?” asked Masaki. 

“I’ve never met him,” said Kurumi. 

“Then there’s still hope,” said Masaki.

Kikumaro snorted. 

“Shut up.” Masaki kicked Kikumaro. 

“Ow!” Kikumaro punched Masaki in the arm. 

“Boys!” scolded Kurumi. “No hitting.” 

“Sorry….” 

“How does Ayako kiss her boyfriend?” asked Emily. “She’s so big!” 

“I don’t actually know if they’ve kissed yet,” said Kurumi. “It’s none of my business.” 

“Okay.” Emily unwrapped her bento. “But I’m curious.” She looked up. “Could I meet Yuuta sometime?”

“Probably,” said Kurumi. “He lives at our house.” 

“Ooh!” Emily giggled. 

“I bet Emily wants to kiss _him_!” said Masaki. 

“Do not!” 

“What would explain why she wants to know about kissing!” said Kikumaro. 

“You’re mean!” 

Lua sped into the schoolyard. “Change!” She shapeshifted into her robot form and landed gracefully on both feet. “Kurumi!” 

“Oh, Lua!” Kurumi ran up to her. “There you are!” 

“Are you okay?” Lua knelt down to look at her. 

Kurumi blinked and took a step back. “Well, yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” 

“Because—,” 

“It’s Lua!” Kikumaro ran up to her.

“Cool!” Emily ran up to Lua, with Masaki hot on her heels. 

“O-oh?” Lua looked at each of them in turn. “And who are you?”

“This is Emily, Kikumaro, and Masaki,” said Kurumi. “They’re friends.” 

“Well, hello,” crooned Lua. “It’s very nice to meet you all.” 

“It’s nice to meet you too!” said Emily. 

“It was so cool how you shapeshifted like that!” said Masaki. “What’s it feel like?”

“Um….” Lua thought for a second. “Well, I guess it feels like you’re still you, but you’ve been… shuffled around.” 

“Wow,” said Masaki. 

“Lua,” said Kurumi, “was there something you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Y-yes.” Lua looked around, then leaned closer. “I wanted to know if you’d noticed anything odd since I left you?”

“No, not that I can think of,” said Kurumi. She stopped and dug through her pockets. “Well, actually, I almost forgot.” She pulled the piece of plastic out of her pocket and handed it to Lua. “I stepped on a toy, or something, and it broke. It had a big drill bit on it.” 

Lua took the piece and studied it. “Oh dear.” 

“What is it?” 

Lua put the piece into a compartment hidden on her midsection. “Hand me your phone.” 

“Hold on.” Kurumi dug through her pockets for her phone. She pulled out two cutesy puzzle erasers, a hair clip, and a tube of lipgloss before she fished her phone out by one of a dozen charms and handed it to Lua. Lua gently tapped the screen and entered something into her phone. 

“That number sends all calls and texts directly to my comm unit,” said Lua. “If you see anything strange, let me know. Send pictures if you can.” 

“Is something bad happening?” asked Emily. 

Kurumi looked at Lua. 

“I don’t know,” said Lua. “But we just need to be extra careful. Okay?”

Emily looked at Kikumaro and Masaki, then nodded. “Okay.” 

“Now!” Kurumi clapped her hands together. “No need to let that get in the way of having a nice lunch, right Lua?”

“Um….” Lua looked at Kurumi, then at the kids. “I suppose not?” She sat down and crossed her legs. 

“Oh!” Masaki ran up and climbed onto Lua’s leg. “Can I eat up here?” 

“I don’t see why not?”

“Me too!” Kikumaro climbed up onto Lua’s lap. 

“Hey!” Emily tried to climb up, but her foot slipped. “No fair!” 

“Here you go.” Lua reached down and gently lifted Emily into her lap. 

Kurumi thought for a second, then climbed up into Lua’s lap too. “This is nice.” 

“Are you sure it’s not uncomfortable?” asked Lua. 

“It’s fine.” Kurumi sat down crosslegged and opened her lunch. “What do we say, kids?” 

“Thank you!” 

Lua giggled. “You’re very welcome!” 

The kids and Kurumi started to eat, and Lua looked around. The courtyard was mostly empty, and the few students that were eating lunch outside were busying staring at Lua and trying to pretend they weren’t when she looked their way. The students who were eating lunch on the roof were slowly trickling over to get a better look. 

Everything looked normal, except for a strange shadow on the far side of the courtyard. Lua zoomed in on it with her optics, and saw something humanoid before it slid back into hiding.

“Miss Lua?” asked Kikumaro. “Is everything okay?” 

Lua blinked and shook her head. “It’s fine. I just thought I saw something.”

When the bell for the end of lunch rang, Lua waved the kids off and checked the spot where she’d seen the shadow. She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Lua sighed, transformed into her alt mode, and drove out onto the street. The least she could do was to patrol the area. 

 

————

 

Kurumi stifled a yawn. The afternoon sun was creeping into the classroom, and it was so tempting to put her head down and catch a nap. But if the teacher caught her napping, Deckerd and Azuki would find out, which would mean a well-meaning, goody-two shoes lecture. Kurumi would rather be grounded. 

As Mr. Akiyama droned on and on about the circumstances that lead up to the fall of the Shogunate and the beginning of the Meiji Era, Kurumi looked out the window. It really was a nice day out. Too bad she was stuck inside.

Mr. Akiyama asked someone a question, and Kurumi looked back down at her textbook. The Brave Police didn’t have to deal with this. They just had the information uploaded into them. Even Deckerd had been the type of weirdo who liked to study. 

“Miss Tomonaga!”  
Kurumi’s head jerked up. “Y-yes, sir?”

Mr. Akiyama looked tired. “Can you tell me about the Battle of—,” 

He was cut off by the high-pitched ringing of the fire alarms. Students gasped, and a girl behind Kurumi screamed. 

“Attention,” said a voice over the intercom. “This is a drill. Please proceed to your designated evacuation points.” 

“Okay, okay, okay.” Mr. Akiyama looked stern as he looked around. “Line up, everyone. You know the drill.” 

“I didn’t know there was a drill today,” whispered a student in front of Kurumi. 

“I don’t think Mr Akiyama did either,” replied another student. “He looked surprised.” 

They lined up, filed down the stairs, and walked into the locker room. Kurumi’s locker was one of the furthest away from the exit, so she pressed herself against the lockers as the other students walked in, hurrying to get their shoes on. Someone elbowed her and muttered an ‘I’m sorry’ as they were pushed away by the others. 

“Geez,” said Kurumi. As soon as she could, Kurumi opened her locker to grab her shoes. She grabbed her right shoe, but when she went to grab her left shoe, she felt nothing but air. “Huh?” she peeked in. There was no sign of her other shoe. “What’s the big idea?” Kurumi looked around, and spotted her other shoe on top of the lockers. 

“Weird,” Kurumi said. She reached for it, but something snatched it away. Kurumi stood on her tiptoes and looked over the tops of the lockers. 

Standing on top of the locker was a robot. It looked a little like a basketball, and it had a blue visor and chubby, cartoonish-looking arms and legs. 

“Bonjour, mademoiselle,” it said, hefting her shoe above its head. It took off like a shot, running back into the school. 

“Hey!” Kurumi tossed her shoe back in the locker and ran after it. “Get back here you orange SOB! That’s my favorite shoe!” 

“Tomonaga-san!” shouted one of her classmates. Kurumi ignored him as she chased the robot, sprinting after it. 

Finally, she came to a stop, out-of-breath, in front of the doors to the gym. She glared at he doors as she slammed them open and looked around, ready to loot the equipment closet for a baseball bat to show that stupid orange ball a thing or two. Instead, she found her shoe lying in the middle of the gym floor. 

Kurumi walked over to it, suddenly feeling uneasy. She pulled out her phone and searched for Lua’s contact number as she walked over to pick her shoe up. As she picked up her shoe, the doors slammed shut. 

“Wait!” Kurumi ran over to the doors and tried to open them, but to no avail. “Hey! Who did this? This isn’t funny!” She pressed Lua’s name in her contacts and held her phone up to her ear. “Come on, Lua. Where are you?” The phone rang a few times, but suddenly the call cut off.

“I’m sorry,” said the automated voice on the phone. “This number is not responding. Please call again later.” 

“What the h*ll?” Kurumi glared at her phone screen, then noticed the bars on the screen. “Where’d my reception go?” 

Something ran behind Kurumi. She whirled around as the orange ball robot jumped up into the basketball hoop. 

“You!” Kurumi ran over and glared at the robot. “What are you, and what are you doing here?” 

“Excellent work, Mai Tai!” 

“Huh?” Kurumi took a step back in surprise as a man stood up from behind the basketball board. He was dressed like a character out of an old American 1930s film, and he had a gigantic nose. 

“Kurumi Tomonaga,” he said. “My name is Monsieur La Monde, the vile assassin.” 

“A-assassin?” Kurumi felt something that could only be expressed by colorful language. 

“You should be honored,” said La Monde. “You’re the only target that has forced me to reveal my face to them. And you are also the only target that has forced me to use this robot.” He pulled a remote out of his pocket and pressed a button. “Go, Screwdriver!” 

The floor burst open, and Kurumi fell back with a scream. A tall, black robot with long metal blades for fingers crawled up from the floor and towered over her. 

“I hate to make a mess,” said La Monde, stroking his mustache, “but alas, I have no choice. Goodbye, Miss Tomonaga. I will attempt to make this painless.” Screwdriver lunged for Kurumi. 

“Get away from me!” Kurumi screamed and scrambled to her feet, running away from Screwdriver. Screwdriver ran after her, making a rasping noise that sounded like a car stalling out. Kurumi ran as fast as she could, but Screwdriver was just as fast, and it wasn’t tiring out. 

Kurumi nearly crashed into a stack of gym mats. She dove out of the way as Screwdriver brought its claws down on the place where she’d been standing, cutting through them like they were made of wet tissue paper. 

Kurumi felt herself tearing up as she forced herself to run faster. This wasn’t fair. She was too young to die. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair. 

When she watched cop shows with Kurumi, she’d never thought about how unfair it was that the victims of whatever murder had died like they had. they were actors, and it was all fake, fake blood, fake scenarios, fake everything. This was real, and if, by some whim of fate, she survived this, she was never going to watch a cop show again. 

Screwdriver swung at Kurumi. She felt the back of her skirt snag, and she heard it rip. Kurumi shrieked as she stumbled and fell into a wall. She hit it hard enough to bruise. She staggered to her feet, and Screwdriver walked up to her, boxing her in. 

“An admirable attempt,” said La Monde, walking behind Screwdriver, “but a futile one, nonetheless.”

“C-come on!” Kurumi tried to look brave. “Wh-why would you want to kill me? I’m a middle-schooler! I never did anything to anyone who’d care enough t-to kill me!” 

“I’m afraid it’s not about you,” said La Monde. “My client is concerned with your brother, and has paid handsomely for the deaths of his family. Unfortunate for you, but c’est la vie. I am a businessman, after all.” 

“You’re killing me to get at my _brother_?” Kurumi clenched her fists. “You b*stard! He’ll catch you and put you in a pit so deep you’ll never see the light of day again!” 

“We’ll see,” said La Monde. “Adieu, Kurumi Tomonaga.”

Screwdriver pulled back to deliver the killing blow, and Kurumi braced herself for the end. 

Then, the wall behind them exploded. 

“Hold up!” Lua burst out of the wall and changed into her robot mode. “Brave Police! Put your hands up, and step away from the girl, y-you dastardly fiend!” 

“L-Lua!” Kurumi’s knees felt like jelly, but she sprinted for Lua. 

“Don’t let her escape!” shouted La Monde. 

Screwdriver ran after Kurumi. It prepared to swipe at her, but Lua caught the blow with her hand and swatted it away. Screwdriver bounced back and skidded to a stop at La Monde’s feet. It stood back up, ran, and leapt into the air. It spun, claws facing forward, and dove for Kurumi.

“Not so fast!” Lua opened a spring-loaded hatch on her hip, and pulled out a collapsable bo staff. She shouted as she swung it at Screwdriver, and hit it so hard that it exploded. 

Bits of robot flew into the air, and a chunk of Screwdriver’s shoulder landed next to La Monde’s feet. 

“Nee-chan!” Yuuta ran past Kurumi and joined Lua’s side. “We got your call!” 

“Kurumi!” 

Kurumi turned around just in time for Deckerd to tackle her in a bear hug. 

“Oh my G*d.” Deckerd squeezed her tightly. “Oh thank God you’re okay. You’re okay.”

“Y-yeah,” said Kurumi. “You’re squishing me, though.” 

“I’m never letting you go again,” said Deckerd. “Oh thank God you’re okay.” He buried his face in Kurumi’s shoulder. 

“H-hey.” Kurumi wiggled her arms free and hugged Deckerd. “Don’t cry. It’s not cool, bro.” 

“Alright La Monde!” said Lua. “We have you cornered. Give it up!” 

La Monde laughed. “Je suis désolé, but I’m afraid I’m not giving up the ghost just yet. I didn’t wish to use this robot, but it appears that I must!” He pressed a button on the remote in his hand. At first, nothing happened. But then, the ground started to shake, and something crashed in through the gym roof. 

“What on Earth?” yelped Lua. Yuuta stepped back, standing protectively over Deckerd and Kurumi as part by part, a giant robot formed in the gym. It stood up, and its head and torso broke through the gym roof, sending debris raining down. Screams echoed from outside as the terrified onlookers gawked at the robot. 

“Papa, the people!” shouted Yuuta. 

“Right!” Deckerd took Kurumi by the arm and pulled her out of the rubble of the gym. “Kurumi, go with your class. Lua and Yuuta will buy some time until J-Roader gets here.” 

“But what about you?” asked Kurumi.

“I’ll follow quickly.” 

“Deckerd,” said Kurumi. “That La… that guy said that someone paid him to go after me so he could hurt you, and he was planning on going after Azuki and Mom and Dad and—,” 

The robot shoved its way out of the gym, and Deckerd had to duck under a flying piece of drywall. 

“Kurumi,” he said. “You’re in danger now. Go with your class, stay there, and don’t go anywhere alone until this guy’s taken care of. Do you understand?” 

Kurumi nodded. “O-okay.” 

Deckerd patted her on the back. “Now, go!” Kurumi nodded and ran across the courtyard. 

“Take that!” said Lua. “And this!” 

Kurumi stopped in her tracks and turned to watch as Lua leapt around the robot, attacking it with her bo staff. One second, she was attacking the robot’s left, another second she was attacking its right. She had a fierce look in her optics as she went to work wearing down the robot. 

“How dare you pick on a defenseless child you toasted penguin!” she shouted. “You absolute turd muncher! What gives you the right?” 

“Get off of me, woman!” said the robot, sounding like La Monde. He swatted at her, but she ducked under his arm. She flicked the bo staff and one of the ends flew off, revealing a blade. She spun her naginata and slashed at the arm. It cut a deep gash in the plating on the robot’s arm. 

“You!” The robot clutched at its arm. “How dare you sully my Black Russian!” 

“Eat my blade!” Lua spun her naginata and lunged at Black Russian. 

La Monde laughed evilly. Black Russian’s chest erupted, and a pair of pincers shot out and grabbed Lua by the head. It hefted her up by her head and squeezed. 

“Nee-chan!” Yuuta pulled out his revolver and aimed it at Black Russian, but the robot whirled around and put Lua in between them before Yuuta could shoot. 

“Fire if you dare, mon fils!” crowed Le Monde. “Shoot her, for all I care!” 

“Papa?” shouted Yuuta. “Where’s J-Roader?” 

“It’s close enough!” shouted Deckerd. “Ready?”

“Ready!” shouted Yuuta. 

Deckerd pulled out his badge and cleared his throat. “Brave up! J-Yuusha!” 

Kurumi yelped as J-Roader flew past her. Yuuta ran alongside it and leapt into the air. In a flash, he combined with it and landed as J-Yuusha. 

“And what will that do?” sneered Le Monde. “I still have the lady brave!” 

“J-Yuusha!” shouted Lua. “Just shoot him!” 

“No!” J-Yuusha pulled his baton out. “I’m not going to hurt you, Nee-Chan!” He held his baton like a lance and ran for Black Russian. Black Russian side-stepped him, and J-Yuusha skidded to a halt and turned just in time to black a blow from Black Russian. 

“Lua!” shouted Deckerd. “Quick! Your legs!” 

“What?” asked Lua. 

“Release the joints!” 

“O-oh!” Lua grabbed the pincer holding her. “Right!” A second later, hydraulics hissed, and Lua’s legs fell out of their sockets and clattered to the ground. 

“Now!” shouted Deckerd. 

J-Yuusha charged Black Russian again. Without Lua’s legs, he was able to stick his baton in Black Russian’s midsection. The pincer holding Lua’s head released, and J-Yuusha caught her before she could hit the ground. 

“It seems that you have bested me!” said Le Monde. Black Russian’s head ejected from its body as the body sparked and fizzled. “May we meet again!” 

“Not so fast!” J-Yuusha pulled his gun out from his hip and fired at the head. The shot hit one of the engines, blowing it into pieces. The head fell to earth, and Le Monde ejected himself from the head. J-Yuusha caught him easily. 

“Monsieur LeMonde,” said Deckerd as J-Yuusha lowered him down to his level, “you’re under arrest for attempted murder.” He slapped handcuffs on him with great relish. “I’m going to enjoy turning you in.” 

“This changes nothing,” sneered Le Monde. “My client has deep pockets. You’ve caught his eye, Officer Tomonaga. He won’t stop until he has what he wants.” 

“Then he can get it himself,” said Deckerd. He yanked Le Monde to his feet. “Let’s go.” 

“Kurumi!” 

Kurumi started at the sound of her name. She turned to see Lua walking over to her, both of her legs back in place. 

“Lua!” Kurumi ran up to her as Lua knelt down. “Thank you for saving me!”

“I’m sorry I didn’t get there sooner,” said Lua. “I’m thankful you’re still here with us.” She smiled gently.

“I’m glad to be here too!” Kurumi laughed nervously. 

“When we’re done,” said Lua, “I’ll see if we can talk some more. if that would be okay with you, of course.” 

“That would be great!” said Kurumi. “Really, really, really great. Yeah.” 

“Okay.” Lua smiled and straightened up. “Change!” She shapeshifted into a power hoe and turned to face Kurumi. “How about we go and have some fun after you get out of school?”

“Like Deckerd’s going to let me leave the house after today,” snorted Kurumi. 

“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you had a police escort.” 

Kurumi giggled. “Okay then! Seen you soon!” 

 

————

 

_ “So you want me to face you myself, Tomonaga?” The mysterious figure cackled and tapped on his console. “I’m afraid that’s not my preferred style. However, I’d be more than happy to up the stakes.”  _

_ He picked up the phone. “Hello? I’d like to stage a test run for the robots you’ve been working on. I have the perfect target for them.”  _

_ “What would that be?” asked the voice from the phone. _

_ The figure smirked. “Nanamagari City.”  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter art courtesy of the amazing Psyche_Angel!


End file.
